The Chaos Brought Forth
by DarkWriter00
Summary: A huge crossover of various characters from books, video games, and possibly anime, based on scenes from an interesting online roleplay project a few friends of mine and I are busy on. Too cool. Intro and summary inside.
1. Introduction and Summary

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The Chaos Brought Forth

Introduction: Hey, UltraBeing AKA Marianne E. B. Markham here. As I'm typing, I'm trying to come up with a title… -thinks… puts title above intro- Hmm… Okay, I think it's a decent title. Besides, I won't give as much as I first thought when thinking it up. I'm evil like that, ya know?

Okay, so you're probably wondering what the hell this is about, right? Well, it all started a while ago, this "what if" appearing to my mind's eye, another word for my imagination. A term I've gotten used to thinking and saying. "What if various characters were drawn here to Earth, by a mysterious force?" I know what the "mysterious force" is supposed to be, roughly. Still pretty much working on it… But I don't wanna spoil it just yet. You'll have to read and find out! -insert evil laugh here- XD Jeez, I'll try to make this as short as I can, but I can't resist starting from the very beginning, when the fragment of the writing idea came up. I apologize in advance if it ends up really long! My bad.

Anyway, so I went on Blurty-dot-com to start what I thought was going to be just a solo project I decided to do at random. Sometimes I just write whatever random junk that my mind's eye sees that that I think is worth writing out. This particular "what if project" sounded interesting, and to the readers familiar with me, you know how much I looooove writing about Squall Leonhart, right? ('Cause I know him too well, duh) So, I HAD to pick him, and I also picked Zell, who's kind of like me, plus he's fun to write about. I'm also a bit of a goof, and I'm my own source of hyperactive energy. Not crazy 'bout hotdogs though, LOL. I made my own Blurty journal, and character journals for those two. 

One night on MSN Messenger, my friend Crystal (known as The Water Goddess on this site, awesome fanfic author and totally cool person) was on and I mentioned about it, and then she starts to think, "hey, you think Seifer would be there?" Then, I thought, oh what the hey! So, I invited her to join in with me on this mini-role play journals thing. For a little while, it was just us two. We'd pick characters from different games mostly. I picked a bunch, because I have such a blast writing about them. Like Leon S. Kennedy and Ada Wong from Resident Evil. First timer in writing about Jill Valentine, and I think I got her down pretty good. Those three are my most favorite RE characters. Then there's my four favorite FF9 characters, and I decided to pick them too. Zidane, Kuja, Vivi, and Steiner. AND, I thought of my two big favorite original G-Army characters from Torture from the Devil Woman: Ultimecia. Nathaniel Boone and Cole Jackson (check my account profile to find it) Crystal thought of her OC, Sophia Almasy (Seifer's little sis) and I remembered writing freestyle sometime ago (way before this all began) on the "mysterious force" that will remain mysterious to the readers until I'm ready to post the particular scene. All I'll say is that it takes place in a creepy dream sequence.

So yeah, Crystal and I would think up some great stuff. Either on the edge of your seat EXCITING, or something that's just really hilarious. We've role played together before. We both have a lot of fun doing it. Now two others were interested, one new person , and another that's this friend I've role played with online in which I think also has an account on Fanfiction-dot-net, but I forget what the name is. They decided to join in too. And we just don't role play as the characters, but we act as ourselves too, since the characters either fall into our world by accident, or find a portal and want to investigate.

The "action posts" or scenes written in third person are really good, very realistic like and thorough and I want to share them. Some of them seem incomplete, so I'll put in the entry at the end that summarizes everything up. I'd also like to put up Crystal's scenes that are hers alone, besides mine and by the two of us together. Maybe the other two. I'll put which is written up by who. I'll ask. For now, I'll just put up the scenes by just me.

So, I have to ask… Are you ready? Oh, and if you want to join in the fun or have any questions or whatnot: phspopularoffspringfan at hotmail-dot-com. That's my email.

This is my way of saying to the fans of the stuff I come up with that I'm soooo sorry for slacking off on my other projects. I try the best I can to stick with them, but this project's just been keeping me busy. As I've said before, I can just be totally unpredictable as a writer at times. No one can predict what my mind's eye sees. Disclaimer: All those already made up belong to their respectable owners. The places mentioned are real places, pretty much. Anything I own is real. I own basically myself as a character, and two original characters. Everything else belongs to their respectable owners. No, I'm not really in any way affiliated with the famous characters from the video games and one book series I love writing about, nor their creators.

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My Best Attempt for a Summary to All This: Something truly beyond bizarre is going on. The fictional characters never thought to have existed, are in our world now. "Characters" from a book series and mostly video games so far have "come to life," in which is how I say it. They've been appearing mostly on the northeastern coast of the United States of America. Fans of the certain fandoms have seen them. Reporters have caught a few on camera. Some of the "characters" are in trouble with the law.

No one can explain what is going on, exactly, not even the "characters" themselves, who are real people, just like you and me. Who is "me", you ask? I'm Marianne, and I found that the first of the arrivals have created online journals on a website known as Blurty-dot-com. It was just pure coincidence to think "oh what the hell" and create a Blurty journal myself. Or was it? I thought it was just something someone came up with for fun, when I discovered what I thought were just character journals. Like the kind of stuff I did. Squall Leonhart, Seifer Almasy, and Zell Dincht from what we know as Final Fantasy 8 were the first of the arrivals. I started to think that it was all just for fun. I thought some people were just really in-character about them "appearing" on Earth. Right? Wrong… I found out that Squall and Zell stayed at the Holiday Inn about a half hour away from where I live. They had found a portal in where they came from to the county area I've been currently living in for most of my life. Seifer came along with them, and they were send on a mission to investigate our world.

Since then, more have arrived. I told only one online friend about this, Crystal, about Squall, Zell, and Seifer-who was running around in Las Vegas, then was being accused for murdering someone- actually real as any other human being walking around. I was SHOCKED to discover that her original character, Sophia Almasy, was real too.

Squall, Zell, and I had started to come up with a plan on our own. To bring all who used to be just fiction together in Southern Maryland, through this journal service on the internet. From there, we'd try to figure everything out. How to solve the problem. Crystal ends up helping me, with a few other people too, smart and sensible fans of whoever would be arriving on Earth.

Then a couple of days later, what was supposed to have kept a lid on and in secret had started to fall apart… Up until now. 


	2. Ch1: Discovering the Truth

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So, I guess you're excited and/or curious to check this out, huh? Okay, well, the very first of all action scenes is posted here. I'll let you know whose POV by putting it in bold, like I do with these author notes. I'll make up chapter names too. Just to let you know: Zell first found out about the truth through livejournal-dot-com and Google search. He told Squall about this later on in the day before the following scene happened.

Chapter 1: Discovering the Truth

October 22nd, 2005, 7:00AM

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Squall's POV

"C'mon Zell, get up," Leonhart persisted as the heavy sleeper for a SeeD squad member turned over on the bed the other stood in front of. Zell's bed being on the right side of the drawer in between, and Squall's was on the left side in the room. "Zell!" Squall hissed, impatiently.

He suggested for the both, being the responsible squad leader and all, to wake up at 7 AM, leaving an hour to get breakfast, take a quick shower, and then buy a couple of umbrellas, due to the rain outside. Marianne said she worked at a bookstore too, so Leonhart didn't want to drip rain water all over the floor. For his own dignity, and for the reputation of Balamb Garden, he had to meet her _on time_.

"Alright, yeah, sorry," Zell tiredly said in apologizing, and sat up on his bed. The disheveled blonde spiky hair waved out in different directions. Dincht stretched his arms upward, yawning. Not wanting to waste any time, for it was 7:01 AM, Squall said, "Go eat something. I'm going to take a shower." Zell yawned a second time as he made his way out the door.

Like the hotels Squall's stayed at his home world, the Holiday Inn had a lounge area downstairs. Bagels, cereal, toast, coffee, and juice were served there. He already decided to get a bagel with some O.J. as he took his cold shower.

Squall changed in the bathroom, pulling a plain gray t-shirt over his head. He picked baggy black pants, and stepped out of the bathroom to strap his strong material black boots. Leonhart felt it wasn't safe to leave his Lionheart gunblade in the hotel room, so he strapped it to his side before putting his black leather, fur collar trim jacket on. _Never know when I'll need it in vastly unfamiliar surroundings..._

Zell got changed as Squall ate breakfast. He waited with little patience as Dincht met up with him by the front entrance to the Holiday Inn. They had to jog across the closest intersection **all the way** to the K-Mart store, the left end of the Fox Run shop complex. Squall placed yesterday's earnings from his new but temporary job in his wallet, leaving his Gil in the drawer of the hotel room. He wouldn't be needing that for quite some time. With the Earth money, he spent some of it to buy the umbrellas. It was on sale too. Two for one sale. Good deal. Squall silently claimed ownership of the dark gray umbrella, while Zell got the maroon colored one. And the whole time, Squall didn't mind. The jog to K-Mart had provided some good exercise.

Zell complained a little, reminding them both of his bad experience at Wal-Mart, this department store being as big as K-Mart. Squall ignored his friend's complaints and ramblings, with annoyance. Overall, for a bit of time, the blonde wouldn't _shut up_.

As they stepped back outside, the rain still hit the huge parking lot in front of them, and on the sidewalk all around them. Leonhart, holding his umbrella in one hand, checked his watch on the wrist of the other. 8AM, just as he had expected the time to be. "Let's go," he said to Dincht, and the two began to follow Route 4 south.

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Marianne's POV (A/N: Mostly a true story, lol, besides the stuff about Squall and Zell of course)

She woke up close to 8AM, due to hearing one of her cats meowing and crying for her attention. At the corner of her eye, the bigger, fatter, attention hogger of the two named Peppy, jumped off from the edge of Marianne's bed and bounded out of the bedroom. The former sleeper focused her vision on the lit up light blue letters on the DVD/VCR player under the black standard big screen TV: 7:58AM. _OH YEAH,_ a thought popped up into her brain. She just remembered: **the meeting with Squall and Zell at work!**

Getting out of bed, she went to the bathroom. As how it usually goes, Peppy followed her. Marianne petted that big baby for a little as she turned on the cold water at the sink, wiping a little bit of the water over her eye lids. It was a usual waking up routine for her to start a brand new day. When she was done, in about a few seconds' time, she turned the water off.

Walking to the kitchen, she pulled out a small glass from the drying tub next to the sink, and walked to the fridge, placing the glass down on the counter next to it, in front of the cutting board. Marianne opened the door, and grabbed the liquid vitamin stuff she's used to mixing with her juice for a super healthy drink. The usual: Shake up the bottle a few times, pour some into the little plastic tub until almost to the very top, pour it into the glass, rinse out the plastic tub before screwing the lid on and putting the container back in the fridge, pour in some juice. Then, she got out four chocolate mini doughnuts out of one of the boxes on the cutting board, placing them into a nearby bowl.

As Marianne went to her seat at the dining room table, she had to push her dad's chair in so she could get to the chair on the wall to her left; her usual spot. Sometimes she'd sit at her dad's spot during the weekdays, when she'd kick back and not have to work.

As soon as her breakfast was consumed, bowl and small glass empty, the two phones in the house began to ring simultaneously. Marianne went to the closest, the wireless one in the kitchen, and pressed the on button as she picked up the receiver. "Hello?" "Hey," her father's voice greeted on the other line. "Who's this?" "It's me Marianne." "What are you doing up?" "I...uh, just woke up." "Is your mom around?"

Marianne's mother was definitely up by then. "What," Linda Markham called to her daughter as she started giggling. _Heh, dad must be playing a game or something on the phone downstairs..._ "It's dad," she said to her mother. "What," Linda repeated, this time wondering what was funny.

The younger woman in the house started to put the bowl and glass in the sink. The windows above it showed that dad's red car wasn't parked in the backyard. _Oh, so he must be somewhere else then,_ Marianne thought. At first, she figured her dad was just being goofy, acting the way he normally does during most mornings...

Marianne's mother hung up the phone, and the daughter asked her why she said "oh, no" to her dad, named Thomas. Linda explained that he's been going through a lot of things right then. Sounded hectic. _He's probably at Calvert High, doing something,_ Marianne thought subconsciously and walked back towards her bedroom. Today was not only about meeting SQUALL LEONHART and ZELL DINCHT, but also about this reception party after the wedding her mother would attend. She had to find a suitable shirt to wear, and knew just what to choose: the pretty white t-shirt with the flowers on it. Wore this before while smiling and posing for her high school senior pictures, to which she didn't have a clue as to WHERE they were. Eventually, she found the shirt on a red wire hanger in the closet to the right of her TV. Plopping it down on her bed, Marianne decided not to waste time and get dressed and stuff.

Marianne found her mother playing Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle Earth on the Nintendo Gamecube downstairs. An orc character flashed his big black sword in a taunting stance on the TV screen. Marianne asked Linda about some clean jeans, and was told to look in the dryer. Furthermore, there was the news of some clean clothing in the big baskets upstairs in dad's bedroom. Marianne checked the dryer, up ahead in the basement and pulled out two comfy pairs of blue jeans, and closed the dryer door. Without a problem, she found what else she needed.

She brushed her hair, making sure it looked _decent_ enough, then brushed her teeth. Asked her mom if she could go to the Mobile fastop once she was all ready. Linda was in the living room by now, watching TV. Aster she packed a lunchable, a small box of raisins, a bag of corn chips, a small Hi-C drink and an ice pack into the cooler she'd carry with her lunch as always during the weekends, she placed it on the floor by the recliner chair, and went to put her pretty T-shirt in a plastic bag, and get the other plastic bag that held the money pouch for the bookstore, John Katzenbach's _The Shadow Man_ in paperback, and some CDs. Along with her purse two. She placed all of them on the recliner chair and laid down on the nearby couch.

Hey, Old Yeller was on the Hallmark channel, a movie she used to watch multiple times as a little kid. She watched that as her mother was finishing up in getting ready. It was about five minutes past 9:30AM by the time Linda and her daughter placed their belongings and purses in the back seat, and sat in front so they could go to the fastop.

Marianne felt the knots in her stomach tightening about what was yet to come as her mom drove. She half paid attention to what was said, and paid full attention when she pointed out the church that the wedding would be held. Some friend of her and dad's was getting married. The church was the blue and white building they used to attend on Sundays from _way back when_. Before discovering St. John Vianney Church, down in Prince Frederick, a little further down the road past Fox Run and the Holiday Inn.

So the church wasn't far from where she worked at all, for it was close to the hill Marianne's mom had to turn to go up it. Not a concern, but the real concern was the possibility of Squall blowing his lid and on how this little appointed get together would go well at all.

The intersection between where a constantly changing restaurant place (Chinese food to better pizza places to a seafood place) and store complex that used to have a small department store known as Buehler's, the Mobile fastop, and the Chesapeake Market place, was a circle. Meaning her mother had to drive a half circle to go to the fastop. Marianne noticed the Halloween decoration on the front door as the car was being parked. She wasted no time in going in, grabbing two packs of LifeSavers and a 20oz. bottle of Sprite Remix and paying for it. Then she got back in the car, as she restarted the engine to the 1997 golden Saturn automobile and steered to head for the front gate to the Marketplace.

Linda mentioned one of the neighbor outside vendors across from Wordman Used Books had taken his turn to put the signs out on the side of Route 4. The signs that Squall and Zell were supposed to find and follow to get to her. _Crap..._ If Squall and Zell got lost, it would be her to blame. But surely, they'd understand once she explained what she'd forgotten, right?

Her mom then talked about those party plates that they found on the steps of Wordman Used Books a few weeks back, along with box that spilled the paperback books **all over the place**. It was a disgraceful display to Marianne. Thinking about it, the same kind of thing just happened. Only this time, the wet boxes and paper bag full of books were on top of the stairs this time. _Must be the same people who were in a rush,_ she assumed as she went up the stairs, all of her things carried in both of her hands. _Weird._

Checking the Disney clock on the wall inside the store, it was about fifteen minutes before 10AM. She mentally told herself to keep calm while turning on the lights that weren't turned on, and turning on the little sales recorder machine behind the counter. Linda sorted through the carelessly donated books. Some were okay to sell, she kept a few to take home with her, but the rest were to be put into the nearby dumpster. Shortly, Marianne's mother had left.

Sitting in the white plastic chair by the door, she couldn't sit still. Time was slowing to a crawl as her eyes darted back and forth between looking outside and at the Disney clock. "Oh boy," Marianne managed to say in a sigh. This was it. She had to tell them what they needed to know or else. And a part of her was excited too, knowing that they really were staying in Prince Frederick! Befriending them wouldn't seem so bad. No problem with Zell, but knew it would take a little bit of patience and tugging to get him to get used to her at least. She hoped that the two of her four favorite FF8 characters to EXIST would take a liking to her. _Of course they will, dummy. You got that irresistible charm, remember?_

As she waited, she passed the time by singing whatever songs were playing in her head right then...

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Zell's POV

The rain had stopped coming down by 9AM, according to Squall's watch. Dincht _really_ hoped Squall knew where they were going. It seemed to be that way.

Zell was carrying his umbrella, tucked under one arm as he reviewed the printed directions from Marianne's blog. Her **exact** directions held in his free hand. The cars on the highway sped past them as they continued to walk along the side of the Route 4 highway. After a while of no one talking, Dincht decided to speak. "Yo, I don't know about you, but I haven't seen one goddamn yellow sign anywhere." "...Let's just keep looking," was all the squad leader seemed to say. Marianne wouldn't dare try to deceive them in any way, would she? Hey, maybe whoever had to put the signs was running a little late. Hell, he honestly didn't know.

It was weird and freaky. Earth thought they had the lives to do a video game about, without any of _their_ permission. That wasn't cool. That was wrong, and just **cold**. The biggest question at least Zell had on his mind was: how, HOW had Earth known about the second sorceress war when no one on Gala didn't know of Earth?

And of course, Marianne had to ask them something: How long had they'd been staying at the Holiday Inn and on her homeworld? He remembered, because she posted that question in his journal.

Zell looked behind him as he saw a gray van pull up behind them on the side of the road. A man was in there, and he got out of the vehicle, asking, "...What are you kids doing out here?" "Squall!" Zell called to his friend ahead of him, as Leonhart stopped and turned around. The stranger had short silver gray hair and a mustache. Squall asked the man, "How much farther until we see the hill, where the St. Leonard firehouse and Chesapeake Marketplace are located?" The man in front of them looked baffled. "You been _walking_ all this way just to get over there?"

"We don't have a car, man," Zell told him with a shrug. "Oh, well I gotta get these signs out first, then I could give you guys a lift, if ya want. You must be tired of walking by now." "DUDE, the yellow signs, right!" Zell said, excitedly. "Uh, yeah," the guy said, looking at Zell in a strange way. Squall took this time to ask, "Do you know of a young woman named Marianne Markham?" He didn't mention the two middle initials, though Dincht didn't know why. Leonhart stood stiff as a statue as the sign carrying man replied, "Yeah, she works at the bookstore across from me." He raised a silver grayish eyebrow. "Why? You friends of hers?" "Yes," Squall said, almost automatically. "...We appreciate the ride." The kind man smiled, and Zell smiled back, deciding to introduce himself. "Hey, my name's Zell Dincht..." He pointed to the squad leader of two young men, that used to be three altogether including that jerk, Seifer Almasy. "And that's Squall Leonhart." "I'm Mike," the man said as Zell shook hands with him. Mike wanted to shake hands with Squall, but the lone wolf just looked down at his hand, then into his eyes, stone faced. "Ah, don't mind Squall," Zell convinced. "He's just a little stiff. That's just who he is."

Leonhart crossed his arms, uttering, "Whatever..." Mike stared at Squall for a moment, then shrugged him off and went to the signs lying there in a pile on top of some wet grass. Squall checked his wrist watch and asked if Mike needed any help, and the nice guy didn't mind at all.

When the yellow signs (pointing out the different things at the Marketplace, as Zell assumed) were all set up on both sides of the highway, Mike got into the driver's seat in the car. Squall picked the passenger seat, so he had to sit in the back. "So, you knew Marianne in school or..." "Yeah," Squall easily lied to Mike. "Classmates in math." He turned his head to look at Zell. The leader's glaring stare told him: "Help me out here. I can't do this all by myself!"

"Y-Yeah!" Zell piped up, having no choice but to keep their true identities a secret. He thought that was a wise decision made by Squall. Squall's told him and Seifer this from the beginning of mission that it was best this way, for the safety of them and the world of Gala.

"I sat next to her in class," Zell fibbed, "and Squall sat behind us. Helped each other out on those tough Algebra problems." "Oh," was all Mike had said in response.

Mike drove them up a hill, and STRAIGHT ahead to the right side of the upcoming intersection was the big white billboard to the Chesapeake Marketplace, just as Marianne had said in the directions to this place. "Yeah, baby! Squall, we made it!" Zell checked the clock on Mike's car: 10:15AM Squall must've checked the time too, because he had one more thing to ask of Mike. "What time does the bookstore open? Ten-thirty?" "No, at ten," Mike answered. "Should be open by now." As they went past the front opening of the chain linked fence, down a wide gravel path, Mike pointed out their destination. "See? There's Marianne sitting by the door."

Zell squinted to look through the window. A girl was sitting there by the door, her eyes not looking back at them, really, but staring off in the direction of where they came. "Cool, thanks Mike! Was nice meeting ya," Zell said as the van came to a complete stop. "No problem," Mike said as Squall and Zell let themselves out of his van, shutting the doors on their way out. The girl, Marianne, was now staring at them, her eyes all big and wide open...

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Squall's POV

He saw Mike wave and call to her, "Found a couple of friends of yours lost on Route 4!" Marianne jumped to her feet and waved back. Jolting at the sight of all three of them. She then forced a smile and waved back to the man he and Zell had just met. "Thanks Mike!"

He could clearly see her from where he stood. Her height looked to be five foot three, and was slightly over weight. Very long and curly dark brown hair. Her blue eyes expressed fear, staring at _him_. She was dressed in blue jeans, faded white sneakers and a black t-shirt. This was Marianne, the girl who had found his journal, who was thought to be just a weirdo. A freak.

She sat back down as the two young men walked up the stairs. "So," she said, in a shaky voice, "You guys _are_ for real." Her uneasiness made Leonhart uneasy, himself. "Yup," Zell said as they both stepped inside the used bookstore. She gestured to an empty white chair on the opposite side of where she sat, beside this table. Zell was grateful. "Don't mind if I do," he said, walking over to the white plastic chair. "We've been walking for over an hour trying to get to you." Squall, however, remained to stand, in between the two big shelves in front of where the girl sat. "You know about this Final Fantasy Eight video game Zell has told me all about," Squall suspected, and crossed his arms. "Um, yeah, because I have a copy of it. Only nobody on Earth, not even the game's creators, figured you guys existed. How that is? I don't know," Marianne said, her voice serious, never taking her gaze off of Leonhart.

"You know everything about us, like those people pretending to be us on that livejournal site you showed me!" Dincht shrilled, shocked about this all over again as he first told Squall about the information he's found on the internet. "Not exactly _everything_," Marianne explained to him, turning her head to look at Zell. "But enough to know you too damn well." She turned back to look at Leonhart. "I'll tell you what I do know, concerning about the game first..." Squall acknowledged with a nod, and waited expectantly.

"Back when I only THOUGHT this game was just total fiction, the Final Fantasy Eight game was first created in Japan, a far, _far_ off country all the way to the east of this world. A company known as Squaresoft created the Final Fantasy series. Different characters and worlds, but the potions, gil, and magic spells all stayed the same. Oh and the Guardians too. I know absolutely nothing on sophisticated video game development, but I think that Squaresoft, also known as Square-Enix, never knew you guys existed. Otherwise the game wouldn't be out everywhere, and possibly Final Fantasies nine through twelve wouldn't have been created."

Squall blinked, staring at this girl who just explained everything so calmly. "What the..." he began to say, trying to register every word she's said. She made sense on if this Squaresoft company really _knew_ what they had been tinkering with. "WHOA, you mean we've been **created** by these guys!" Zell yelled, shocked. "I...I can't believe that." Marianne shrugged. "I can't believe you guys are right here, in my family's used bookstore," she said. "It doesn't make sense to me. How are you even...?"

"We found a strange portal in our world," Squall said, "It led to this world, Earth." "How'd that happen?" Marianne asked. "We don't know," Leonhart said, looking at her. Eyes narrowing, he shook his head in disbelief. "Your world really doesn't know we exist? Is that what I'm hearing?" Marianne nodded, her eyes looking sad at him. "Holy...shit..." Squall heard Zell say. "I know," Marianne muttered grimly, sighing.

"That can't be true," Squall said, glaring an icily stare. "But it is," Zell finished for him. Leonhart didn't like anything about what Marianne had just explained to him. "Okay, Squall, chill," she said. "Anger won't solve this. This is the year two-thousand-and-five. The game was created in nineteen-ninety-nine. Can't change the past."

Squall turned away from her, his shaking leather gloved hands balled into fists. _No, it just doesn't make any sense. The fact that we found the portal doesn't either._

Marianne spoke, bring him out of his thoughts before he'd do or say something that he would regret. He heard her coming closer to him. "Okay, just deal with how it is," she said. Squall turned around, his furious expression inches away from her face. "Calm the fuck down," she said, her voice low. "Please. I probably know what you're going to say, but don't. We've all been freaked, but what can we really do? And I'm _not_ going to let you just explode out in public. ...I really don't think everyone should know about this. Reporters would go freakin' nuts over this, and you'd never be left in peace. _I_ wouldn't be left in peace." Squall, really uncomfortable with this girl being so calm and this close to her, roughly shoved past where she stood, accidentally knocking a pile off a table onto the wooden floor. There really wasn't much space to move around in.

He left Marianne to clean up the mess as he took her seat, head in his hands. _Take a deep breath. You know she's right,_ a voice in his head whispered. It's been a long time since his Guardian Force, Quezacotl, had spoke to him. Squall decided to follow his suggestion, as he heard someone come up the stairs. He looked, and saw a woman with long straight sandy blonde hair. She looked to be in her forties or fifties, due to the wrinkle lines on her face. She wore glasses.

"Hi," Marianne softly said, to the woman. "Oh...hi. How are you?" She spoke as if she knew this woman...

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Marianne's POV

Marianne knew this customer before from last weekend. A very nice lady she's talked about music and writing with. Silently praying, she hoped Squall would calm down. "I'm fine...and you?" She said a hello to Squall, who just looked acknowledged her with a silent nod, and looked away. "Um, hey," was the thing Zell said in a while. She thought that he lost his voice for a while there. It was so **unlike** Zell Dincht to be so quiet.

"I'm good," Marianne managed to say, and shot Squall a look that said: "If you blow another fuse, I swear I wouldn't know what to do..." Then she mouthed to Squall to not mention any of their conversation to her friend. She didn't really need to know any of this, despite that she HAS bragged to this new customer in writing about Squall, and knowing how he feels. She could definitely tell how Squall Leonhart felt now: pissed off.

God, she felt awkward right now. She walked out of the space between the hardback classics, the art and music books, the Oprah's Book Club books, and self help on one side; female bestsellers on the other side. What was that woman's name again? She asked, and said her name was Kathy. "Kathy, right..." She motioned for Zell to get up out of his seat. Zell gave her a questioning look. "C'mon," she said through gritted teeth, hoping to keep Zell Dincht calm at least. _Good grief...this is harder to face in reality than just writing about this stuff!_ The blonde boy with the tattoo on the side of his face she knew and loved as a **character** (and hopefully as a friend soon) stood up, looking a bit lost and confused. "Hey Kathy," she said, tugging along Dincht with her, taking him by the hand. "I'd like ya to meet my friend Zell. Squall, the other guy, is also a friend of mine too, and Dincht had to lug him over so we could bring him out of his bad mood. He's havin' a bad day, ya know?" "Friendship can be a very good thing in someone's life," Kathy said. "Hi Zell. Nice to meet you." Zell smiled. "Hey, you too," and shook hands with her.

"Um, can I talk with you outside for a bit, Marianne?" She nodded, and led the two outside, behind the shop. "Squall's pissed," Marianne pointed out. "Yeah, so I've noticed," he said, and ran a hand through his spiky hair. "I mean...I understand about not being able to really do anything about it, I guess, so what are we going to do about Squall?" "...Just help me keep him calm," Marianne told him. "Okay? I'm glad you didn't take it as bad... You know, I'm just an innocent gamer person, ya know?" Zell nodded. "Yeah, I know... I think Squall knows too, or he would have blamed you by now."

Marianne looked at her shoes, thinking for a moment. She looked back up at Zell. "Let him be. I just think he needs to cool off some. Then he'll come to his senses and everything will be okay." "I hope so," Zell said, sounding unsure. This different kind of Zell was starting to scare her.

"Let's um, go back inside," she said nervously, as he followed her back inside Wordman Used Books...

****

Next is the journal entry from my own Blurty journal, summarizing all that's happened… Didn't write out everything in third person. Finished the actual scene when I felt it was finished…

October 22nd, 2005, 9:39PM

Subject: WHEW What a day it was, Crystal. What a day...

Mood: mentally exhausted

Alright, so at 10:30 AM, the guy my mom and I know who owns the shop across from the bookstore had found Squall and Zell on Route 4, and gave them a ride. I can only assume they've claimed to be my friends. Something to hide their identities, right? Yeah, I figured that out easily.

Then, I start explaining to Squall and Zell on what I know about Squaresoft and oh God... I knew Zell wasn't going to handle this without being real pissed off as like Squall was. Man, he was just REALLY moody, but it wasn't really hard for Zell and I to keep him calm down. Eventually, he did calm down, but his really bad mood didn't fade away. He didn't want to deal with anybody.

Two big events today: that meeting and the party after this wedding my mom attended to.

Anyway, I eventually told them about it, and that I'd have to change into my formal white T-shirt with flowers on it. I invited them. Zell said he'd go, but Squall didn't want to go willingly, so we heavily persuaded him to go. It wasn't easy, but he end up muttering "fine" in his own angsty and grumpy way.

The party was nice. I introduced Zell to friends of my family. He looked like he had fun. As for Squall, I saw him standing off on his own, and I talked to him some. Squall, knowing you as well as I do, I'm sure you won't be hating me forever for dragging you over.

Eventually, they had to get going. They had to WALK all the way back to the Holiday Inn. That's a pretty long walk. I hope they can afford a car while they're here.

Hey guys, you thinkin' of visiting sometime tomorrow? I don't think I've shown you the game's strategy guide yet... I don't know why, but maybe it would help some if you saw it. Other than that, what else can I do? I can't possibly go with you on a freakin' trip to Japan! Can't confront the creators of the game in person. I think the two of you should just take the time to accept it. Can't change the past.

I'm actually surprised that I've been so calm when first telling them the cold truth. I thought I was going to react differently.

Crystal: We can't tell anyone about this. You know how the media would react to this confusion? What I found out from both altogether: They've found this portal, and are investigating our world for a mission. It's been a few years after Ultimecia. Squall's about one year older than me. Zell's the same. I revealed my age, of course, because Zelly was curiousssss :-p.

Right now, I'm just mentally tired. So much freakin' excitement and worry for at least two hours straight. I'm glad this day is so over!

****

I think that the replies are important as the entry to put down, so I'll do that, putting who says who…Crystal owns herself btw. I'll put the ones that matter for that specific day.

****

Crystal Wolfven: I completely understand. I haven't mentioned it to anyone I know, considering I don't know many people, if any at all other than the people I work with.

****

Zell Dincht: Visiting you at work tomorrow you mean? I guess so, because we don't know where you live at. I'd have to bring Squall, since he's got a real good sense of direction. I mean, I guess it would be cool to see ya again. You're a nice person, and so understanding. And cool. And funny...

Thanks for the invitation to that party, too. It really was fun. Your friends are funny. Especially those guys named Jim and Rusty.

And the Bell's Palsy thing. I probably would have been scared, but as far as I can tell, you're really brave. It shouldn't be a surprise as to how calm you were today.

Your mom's pretty cool too. ...I miss my ma when thinkin' about yours. I don't even know how long the mission has to be.

I wouldn't worry 'bout Squall. Of course, you know how he is. He'll be alright. It WILL take time for the both of us to accept all that shit you've explained to us, yeah? For the both of us, I apologize for our behavior. Especially Squall's. Sorry we got you so stressed out for a while. Yo, at least I'll make it up to ya, okay Marianne?

****

Kuja Tribal (A/N: The next day, 1:14AM in the morning…I RP as Kuja): My, my, dearest Marianne, sounds like you've had quite an adventure today. You've met Other Worlders, like me?

You have quite an ear for music, yes? Can you sing prettily, like a canary? Do you really enjoy the theatre? And books too!

Impressed I am...

****

Finishing Author Notes: So, what do ya think? Reviews are all appreciated. Positive ones. I'll go ahead and post the scenes that happened the next day. Kuja is SO FUN to role play as. I do a really twisted interpretation of him. He's just a cuddly, demented, and can't-be-helped villain to me. XD


	3. Ch2: Kuja Just Wants to Have Fun

****

Yup, Kuja's arrived. Oh boy… Want to know what happens with him, and how I, Squall, and Zell react to it? Read on to find out! Woohoo!

Chapter 2: Kuja Just Wants To Have Fun

October 23rd, 2005, 8:03AM

****

Kuja's POV

It was a crisp chilly morning as he stepped outside of his exquisite hotel room, onto the balcony. Kuja had discovered on the previous night that his magical abilities were still fully available, so it wouldn't matter no matter what world he'd end up falling into. Yes, falling. A hole had opened up in the middle of a gravel pathway in Lindblum, and he ended up in unfamiliar surroundings. So, Kuja Tribal made the best of it by just exploring in his own way.

Through the internet on Kuja's new toy, the laptop he found on his day on the arrival to Earth, he searched for the fanciest and most expensive hotel room in Maine (where he resided for the night), complete with a view of a nearby ocean. Didn't even have to pay for it. With ease, he manipulated each of the hotel staff, putting in the suggestions that Kuja _was_ paying for the room, to which was absolutely false.

His white dragon was hiding under the hotel balconies, using the night's shadow to hide from any unwanted guests while it slept. Now it was morning, and as soon as Kuja leaped down from three stories high onto the street unharmed and on his feet, the genome witnessed his beloved pet getting so much attention from a few very young children. They looked startled to see him, to make such a dramatic entrance. It was a hobby.

"So, when do **_I_** get scratched behind the ears?" he scoffed in partial annoyance at the little boys and girls, two of each gender. It wasn't that he didn't allow the big reptile to make some friends, and he _certainly_ was _not_ jealous. Kuja just wanted to go for a ride, without having to kill anyone in the process. Especially with children. It would be a nasty mess if the authorities decided to try to track him down, which wasn't going to be easy for them, but still... It was just easier to just go without having to do anything so rash.

"Is this dragon yours!" asked the oldest of the children, an eight year old boy. _Nosy little human, isn't he?_ "Yes," Kuja said with confidence. "Now, go on home to your mothers." "But can't we stay with him for just a few more minutes?" whined one of the little girls. _...Filthy little urchins!_ "**SCRAM!**," his voice boomed and echoed as the brats scattered like the insects they were. What Kuja didn't realize was the change of colors to his silver feathered hair and blue eyes, which both turned to red when he yelled at the kids. He was seconds away from going into full Trance mode by that sudden outburst. When the children were gone, the hair and eye color returned to their normal colors.

Walking up White Dragon's right feathered wing, Kuja commanded it to take off to the sky. The silver-white shiny giant obeyed, having to flap its wings through the cold air. Knowing White Dragon well, Kuja knew he preferred soaring over thermals than flapping its wings constantly. ...It seemed like they were in the sky for a very long time. What felt like hours had passed by. Everything below looked like a child's fantasy.

__

Thwok-thwok-thwok-thwok-thwok-thwok... Kuja heard a sound. As he looked behind him, he saw a flying machine. A helicopter, as it was known on this planet called Earth. For a while during the night, before finding he had speedily read through on the internet about the different types of transportation machines on Earth. So it was true: the spinning rotors on the 'copter's roof and tail were all that was to keep the thing hovering in mid-air. Fascinating. This helicopter was painted to be mostly black, except for a touch of blue on its body. Kuja saw the white number and letters, which read, "9 NEWS". And it had found him. A door on the side slid open as a man with some kind of device looked at Kuja. A device he'd have to do some research on soon.

_I wonder how fast and how much of a flexible flyer a helicopter is_, Kuja thought as he smirked at the man. Then he turned, moving up on his dragon's back to whisper in one of its large pointy ears. "Let's have a little fun," Kuja lightly suggested, a part of himself anticipating for something to do. "See if you can out fly and out maneuver this flying machine." He knew that his pet understood his speech and braced himself, diving and wrapping his arms and legs around the silver white scaly neck before the wild flying began.

He turned his head as the 'copter gave chase. The thrill! It tilted and sped after them, giving Kuja an eyeful as to how it moved. But as White Dragon went into a full dive, the people inside of the flying machine couldn't manage to keep up with them any longer. Kuja laughed, and laughed in the sheer joy of the game he had spontaneously thought up. A lovely and exciting game of chase it was. There was something he learned: helicopters were just as fast as the airships on Gaia were.

By now, they were a couple several feet above the ground, in a city, due to the high steel and window buildings to which Kuja seen before somewhere else, but the trees _here_ looked different. Skinny looking trunks. Curious, he gave the orders to White Dragon as to where to land, so he could slip off the handled strong fabric bag worn on his back. He found that and the laptop inside of it abandoned in an alley someplace, in that other city when he first arrived on Earth. Kuja had the curiosity to look up on the internet do a search on where he was now...

****

Marianne's POV

It was about 1:05PM when she saw Squall and Zell in the distance on the wide gravel path, walking towards the bookstore she worked in, Wordman Used Books. Yes, Marianne had the FF8 strategy guide in the plastic bag with the money pouch and some CDs, but she brought along the FF9 strategy guide too. Before she and her mom left the house in her car, they had seen the guy on the huge magnificent white dragon on a small news update on the Fox Channel. She bit her tongue before she could just curse or say something. That man, no, **genome**, was none other than Kuja Tribal! She clearly recognized him from the CGI cut screens on the FF9 game. There had been a news chopper that found him, and they caught very little footage of him. She saw Kuja smirk at the camera, and walk up to one of the dragon's ears, to talk to it. They took off, and the dragon began to dive, fast like a bullet. Not only were the FF8 characters real, but FF9's as well. At least one, the villain.

This worried Marianne a lot. She had no freakin' clue as to how in the HELL Kuja existed. For all she knew about him, Earth was in some seriously, life threateningly BIG trouble. She silently hoped Squall and Zell saw the news too. They'd have to help her to bring Kuja Tribal under control. But one thing was for sure: no one could mess with Kuja without getting hurt in the process. He was, and possibly still as demented and twisted as he was in the game.

Wait, if **KUJA TRIBAL** was in the same planet she was, then the black mage puppets he made could be...! No, Marianne wasn't GOING to think like that. On the more positive side, maybe Zidane, Garnet, Vivi, Steiner, Blank, Amarant, or Freya could be roaming somewhere too!

She stood up, her insides trembling as Squall and Zell came inside the store. "Did you guys watch the news this morning?" Marianne asked them urgently. Squall nodded, and reading his awareness, he could read how she was acting to be wanting to tell them something VERY important on the guy they saw on TV. "What about it? Is something wrong?" asked Squall, the tension rising in his voice. Zell sounded concerned. "Yo, Marianne. You alright? You're looking a bit pale there..." "That guy on the dragon..."she began to say, her voice shaky, "is known as Kuja Tribal. ...I know him as a character from the Final Fantasy Nine game. He's a twisted sort of character, really..."

"You know of him?" Leonhart questioned, as Marianne nodded her head quickly in response. "Very demented kind of guy, and not exactly human. He's got a long tail, but he hides it. He doesn't like what he is." "Is he dangerous?" Squall asked, obviously reading over her terror. Marianne wouldn't be able to hide the fear, no matter how hard she tried. "Oh yeah, very," she breathed. "Since he has his pet dragon, he could be anywhere by now."

"How the _hell_ did he get on Earth then? Did he find another portal somewhere?" Zell Dincht quirked. "Probably," Squall said, and looked like he was deep in thought. "So, what are we gonna do?" Zell said in concern. "We have to talk to him," Marianne replied almost immediately. "Maybe he has a journal on Blurty, like we do. Maybe-" "How can you be sure about that?" Squall asked, cutting her off. Marianne shrugged. "From how you're acting, you're afraid of him," he added in looking at her. "Yeah, because _any_ Final Fantasy Nine fan knows not to mess with Kuja Tribal. He can create a black mage army to unleash on you if you rub him the wrong way."

"What? What the heck are black mages, Marianne?" Zell asked. "Beings in robes who do magic attacks. They would hardly ever tire," she simply explained. Squall had a hand on his forehead in a "Oh man..." expression, then brought the same hand to his side again. "Nothing good," he said. "Not at all," Marianne agreed.

Squall took the FF9 strategy guide mag off the table by where she'd usually sit, and began to flip the booklet open.

****

Squall's POV

Squall sat in Marianne's seat as she told him, "Turn to the starting page about the main characters." He did and saw a picture of a guy with a chestnut brown monkey tail. "Zidane Tribal..." He read the name out loud, then looked to the Earth girl who knew who Kuja Tribal. She explained, "He's the younger brother of Kuja, but not a psychopath. One of the good guys, along with his friends, mentioned throughout the character section." Leonhart understood and read some of the other descriptions about Princess Garnet Alexandrios (also known as Dagger), Adelbert Steiner, Vivi, and Freya Crescent. Only looked over some of their brief descriptions.

"But you know more than what that magazine has," Zell said, to which Marianne had nodded, looking at him in worry. Squall closed the magazine, and placed it back on the table, where it previously was. "At least a little more," Marianne said. "We'll need to know this information then," Leonhart told her, leaning forward in the white plastic chair...

****

Marianne's POV

"Okay, I think I'll just explain on Kuja and Zidane Tribal. That way so you'd know a little more about Kuja," Marianne decided. Squall nodded, and seemed okay with that, saying, "That'll do for now." She looked from him to Zell, wondering about Seifer and if they've heard anything from him lately, but knew that could wait.

"Alright," she began, trying to relax and clear her head. "Zidane was dropped off on the world Gaia when he was about four or five years old, by Kuja. He was jealous of the attention his little brother was getting, and probably still hates him now." "WHOA, that's not nice at all!" Zell interrupted, surprised to hear about it. "Yeah, because in Terra, this plance that has to survive by devouring other planets..." Marianne drifted off, suddenly thinking up a most terrifying possibility: Earth could be Terra's next meal! Kuja might hand it over to...

"WHAT!" Zell yelled, not liking the sound of this grim tale of woe so far. "You're thinking about your world being a target," Squall spoke, bringing Marianne out of her moment of shock. She nodded, eyes big as they could be, and forced to continue explaining about what Kuja did and how he felt back then, but before she could do so, Squall pointed out the door to signal that someone was coming.

A middle aged blonde woman came up the stairs. "Is this place all books?" "Yeah," Marianne and Squall said at the same time, Marianne trying to calm down the adrenaline rush, and Squall being blank and emotionless. After she left, Marianne continued, the words leaving a bitter taste in her mouth. "The head of Terra is known as Garland, and old man in charge of Terra. He created Kuja and Zidane Tribal, and they weren't born out of someone's womb I guess. I don't really know much about how that is, and I guess it's better for all of us for that to be unknown...

"Well, Garland was the one to think that Zidane was perfect in the creator's own way to hand over Gaia to Terra, and Kuja was ignored. He began to loathe Garland and as payback, he did what he did with Zidane. But Zidane grew up okay, raised by the leader of a gang of thieves known as Tantalus, whose cover was a theatre company. By the age of seventeen, Zidane was part of this important plan to capture Princess Garnet. It was supposed to go easy come, easy go, but then the queen who's not Garnet's birth mom threw a fit and destroyed Tantalus's theatre airship. Kuja became a weapons dealer, making the black mages as a distraction to gain control over what you would call Guardian Forces, part of his own chaotic plans to hand over Gaia to Terra, I think?"

Before she finished, she looked down at the floor, feeling like a nervous wreck. "Though, I think Kuja was supposed to have died, but I haven't even finished the...you know. So, I dunno." Squall stood up, and calmly told her, "Sit down. I think you've said enough." She nodded, and sat in her chair by the door, the bitter aftertaste feeling still on her tongue's taste buds.

He didn't want to let her torture herself by telling more than she needed to say about this Kuja Tribal, who sounded like a serious threat to the world they were all in right now. _We need to stop him then._ It was freaky enough for him that Marianne knew all about who he and Zell were, but a deadly, psychotic, and sadistic bastard like Kuja? It would be sort of an advantage to them, making Marianne the negotiator to Kuja, but he had a feeling that she shouldn't be left alone with the "genome" as she had said. The information she knew might make him even more dangerous than he already seemed to be through her words.

"Damn," Marianne said, with a shudder. Some of her curly brown hair broke free from behind her ears and covered them. "Complete chaos..." "Yeah, man... Already, I'm starting to _hate_ that Kuja bastard," Zell agreed in his own expressive way. He hit a clenched fist into the palm of his other hand. "We can't let anything happen to Earth." He walked stood up to be closer to her and Leonhart. "Nobody's gonna die. Not on _my_ watch."

"We'll need to get a hold of Kuja, and soon," Squall said, dread consuming his heart. _If he doesn't listen to any of us, we might have to kill him if absolutely necessary._ He felt troubled for Marianne, who was definitely worried and scared if Kuja tried to do anything.

Everyone in the whole entire bookstore fell quiet, but Marianne forced on a smile and asked the next two customers if they needed help with anything. "No, we're just wandering around. Never been this way before," the young woman of the couple said. They marveled about as Squall decided to take a look at the Final Fantasy Eight strategy guide, just to see how the "game" was, out his own damn curiosity.

But as he skimmed through the characters, he didn't see anything on Seifer's younger sister, Sophia Almasy. "All clear man," Zell said, as Squall spoke to Marianne on this oddity. "How come Sophia isn't mentioned in here?" She raised an eyebrow. "Who...?" "Seifer's sister," Zell provided in helping her understand. They saw her flinch and take a few steps back. "Oh...my..._God_..."

Leonhart saw the same look in her eyes she had when she first met him and Zell yesterday morning. "Oh mannn, now what?" Dincht moaned in frustration. Marianne broke her gaze from them and looked down at her sneakers as if she'd never seen them before. "I thought..." She looked to Squall. "You remember my online friend, Crystal, right?" Squall felt an eyebrow raised. "Yeah, but what's she got to do with Sophia Almasy?" "This just keeps getting freakier by the hour," Marianne commented, and stared at Leonhart. "See, I thought Sophia only existed in _Crystal's imagination_." "What...the...hell?" Zell slowly said, really freaked out by now.

Squall sighed, wondering why this shit was happening to all of them. _Seifer is going to_ love _this..._

****

One of Kuja's journal entries, the one mentioning about the little game he played with the news chopper…

October 23rd, 2005. 10:30AM

Subject: I'm in a new, unexplored state of the "United States of America"

Mood: contemplative

music: No music, but a small breeze that doesn't affect anything

Well, that's what the maps of this interesting and large world read. Found them on...Yahoo Maps, was it?

The roof of this tall, box shaped, and highly built steel and window building has a lovely view of this city named Miami. The skinny looking trees that tilted in the gray paved streets are called "palm trees." Quite puny looking trees in my opinion. It's also very humid and warm down here.

Just a while ago, I was flying on my dragon to see one of those helicopters, to which I had a little fun with. They couldn't keep up with the magnificent White Dragon as he steered us into a dive. They're not really fast. If only the chase would have lasted a little bit longer. It was enthralling. I think I've discovered something to do for a hobby on this planet I've found.

Yes, I'm not alone. There are at least two others from some other world. I wouldn't know really, but I've found this information from a friend I've made through this "blog service": inasweetdream. I'd like to find her, my newfound canary friend, one day, but there's no rush. I think I could get used to Earth, for I like it very much. These advanced machines called computers! The "internet" has been so helpful to me ever since I had that little incident with a hole in the ground...

Now that I'm on solid ground, I'll look up as to whatever device that one human in the helicopter was holding...and then I'm off to find breakfast.

****

The following replies were posted much later on at night. I posted as everyone. Squall, Kuja, and me. Note that Squall and Zell were staying over at my place for the night, and Squall and I had to share the computer I'm using to update with. That's why there's only one reply from Squall.

****

Squall: ...We need to talk. As soon as possible.

****

Kuja: To talk? What about? Seeing me on "TV", hmm?

Interesting, to just watch yourself on a box shaped device that showed moving pictures. Don't you think so?

****

Marianne: Kuja, where are you?

Yeah, it's me... I guess you must've found my blurty through interests. In a way, I'm glad you did.

Where are you? My friends and I would appreciate it if you wouldn't mind seeing us ASAP.

****

Kuja: Marianne, how nice to hear back from you. How are you? Yes, I found out we have a bit in common, so I added you to my journal's "friends list."

Meet you? In Maryland? If you tell me specifically where you'll be, I could fit our first meeting into my to do list. ...I know where that state is. Very far north from me, aren't you? You saw me on the television too, didn't you? I'd like your honest opinion: what did you think of my performance, hm?

****

Marianne: ...I'm fine, um, thanks.

Yeah, I think a _lot_ of people saw you. That's sort of what I need to talk to you about, and possibly ask a few questions. Something rather important.

How does...tomorrow sound? Well, if you can look up your location on any map and figure it out from there...I'm somewhere in Southern Maryland. Um, we'll meet...Hey, fly over a distance away from Prince Frederick, it's surrounded by other towns such as St. Leonard, Lusby, and my neighborhood, around Broomes Island. Be sure to fly out of attention and hide your dragon somplace good. Land it someplace on highway Route 4, within a little woodsy area closest to Prince Frederick. From there, walk. I'll be waiting out front with my friends Squall and Zell in front of the Wal-Mart. Time? By...10AM?

...I hope that was specific enough.

****

Kuja: Tomorrow? The sooner the better, I'd say. We could talk all about it at this Wal-Mart place you speak of. Very specific directions, so I shouldn't have trouble finding you...

I'm _really_ look forward to seeing your pretty face, my canary. But, how will I really know it'll be you? Hm... Oh, I have an idea. I'll say the first line of the song lyrics you've displayed in your journal's profile. _You probably wish you were anywhere but here._ You say the next line. Yes, I think that could work.

From there, we'll go someplace much less public. I get distracted in crowds, Marianne.

****

Marianne: Fair enough. Yeah, that code should work fine. I know all the words to that song in memory.

Heh, you'd probably be surprised when you'll see me. I'm probably not what you'll expect. I'm pretty average looking among all the other girls I know.

Where less public? I can't be gone for too long, because I'll eventually have to get back home.

I think I understand what you mean, about crowds. Being the center of attention and all after what you did yesterday? (Heh, yesterday, since it's morning already) I'd get real distracted too. It'd be annoying with the press. You might want to go in disguise. Get a change of clothing, shoes... Bring a hat, too. My friends and I would rather keep a low profile. Lately things have been going really weird...and more attention from the local reporters would just make things spin out of control for my friends and I. There's at least one more from another world, different from yours. I think it would be a lot easier if we'd keep it on the down low.

****

Kuja: The lyrics you put down...could you perhaps sing them to me when we meet, sometime? I believe you can sing, if you like that song for a theme for your journal, yes?

Oh come _on_ now. there's no need to be modest, dearest! I'm sure you're very pretty. Your _name_ is pretty. From your replies, you seem like a fascinating woman. Hm...I'll also get a little something for you, precious.

Ah, smart thinking Marianne. I shall look into getting a disguise... MY, look at the time! We should get some rest. I know I should... Sweet dreams.

****

Marianne: I don't know if I'll sing, but I might. It'll just depend on how the whole thing will go, y'know?

My friend Squall wants me to give you a message: that you'd better not be playing any games.

Don't mind him though. He's just a bit too serious.

Yeah, I'm getting a bit tired myself... G'night Kuja.

****

And that about concludes this chapter! I'll ask Crystal if I can put up Seifer's first journal entry, since she role plays as him. It's pretty amusing, and she has a kickass interpretation of him. Oh, and there's exciting action post from him too. I'll ask her this week, because I'm hoping to put all that stuff up next.


	4. Ch3: Seifer's in Trouble, No Surprise

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Hey, Crystal said it was okay to put her character stuffs on there, knowing of course that I'll point it out to y'all on which characters she does. Seifer Almasy is one of them.

First, I want to put up the amusing-highly amusing-Seifer journal entry…Takes place a couple days before Squall and Zell first meet me through Blurty.

Chapter 3: Seifer's in Trouble, No Surprise There

October 20th, 2005... 10:25PM

Talk about different. This place, whatever the hell it is, sucks.

Shall I explain? I think I will.

So I get here, wherever _here_ is, and gil don't work. Nope, these freaks don't take gil. They don't know what GIL is so they won't take it. Lucky, lucky me, eh? I need "money", so I find a job. Working at this restaurant. Fancy place, I mean _fan-cy_. First the manager there thinks I'm joking when I want to apply for a job. Only until I -cough- talk to him does he hire me. Works out fine for the first thirty minutes, and then this fat guy shows up, calls me a punk when I don't get his order right (that or because I _may_ have said something smart-ass when he started ordering his food). Yeah, I don't like working at restaurants, so I'm looking for a new job.

That and the fact that the asshole fired me. I also got this "restraint order" thing. Obviously I can't come within fifty yards of the guy. Maybe it's because I sent him to the hospital, I don't know. The asshole ain't lookin' too good anymore. Actually, he never looked that good before.

And because of that misunderstanding, I need MONEY. Well, not too much anymore. You should see the hotel I'm staying in. DAMN, I've never seen anythin' better. Other than that woman I saw downstairs... I _gotta_ get her room number... It's like, 600 bucks a night here at this hotel and I'll be staying here awhile. How am I payin' for it? Why, the nice guy I bumped into on the street is paying for it! Isn't he just so nice? This thing called a credit card comes in handy. And apparently has a _lot_ of "money" on it.

I think I'll check this place out some more. I heard there's a bar somewhere in this hotel.

**Current Mood:** _annoyed_

****

Again, I RP as both Squall and Zell… Here's the following replies to the entry! XD

Zell: Huh? Where you at, Seifer? A fancy restaurant and hotel? Sounds far from where Squall and I are at...

HEY, shouldn't all team members stay together or somethin'? I think that's pretty important so whenever the time we have to go back, then nobody will be left behind.

Not like I really care for your ass, but it's priority to stick together...

****

Seifer: Ah, c'mon, Chicken wuss, don't you care for me?

From askin' around, and gettin' weird looks, I found out I'm at a place called "Las Vegas". I think I like it here. Why would I wanna hang with you guys when I got that beauty downstairs?

****

Zell: Las Vegas? ...What a weird name!

Tch! Fine, but don't blame me if Squall gets all mad and we'd have to go lookin' all OVER for your ass!

****

Squall: ...

Seifer, we're _not_ here on vacation. If you're staying there at the "Las Vegas" hotel for the night, okay, but you need to report back to the rest of the team by tomorrow. We should stay together. Though, if you want to be left behind when the mission's over, that won't be my fault.

Sigh. That's just like you. No matter where you are, you always have to cause trouble, dammit. If I tell you to refrain from hurting anymore of those that live on Earth, so I've been told that's what this **planet** is called, I'll expect you to follow that order. Yes, I know you don't like being told what to do, but do it anyway.

And about the "credit card," did this so called "nice guy" actually offer to pay for you, or did you _steal_ it from him?

****

Seifer: ...You gotta be kidding me.

Fine, fine, I'll _try_ to stop myself from hurting anyone on this planet Earth.

Think about it, Squall: who would offer to pay a 600 buck room for **me**, of all people?

****

2 Days Later…

October 22nd, 2005. 9:41PM

Seifer stood in a line, waiting to pay for an "airplane ticket" to North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. He needed to get away from here--and not just because he had to get to his baby sister, but also because of what happened just an hour ago:

_He had been walking toward the airport, when he heard someone scream. Well, since he wasn't really supposed to get into any more trouble, he ignored it--then after the second scream, he ignored what Squall had said.  
As he turned the corner, he saw a man beating the shit outta this other man lying on the ground, the one who had been screaming.  
"Hey, asshole! Leave him alone!" Seifer walked toward the two, ready to fight if he must. But not use his gunblade. That was a no-no.  
The man was surprised to see someone else, and he reacted by pulling something out of his jacket pocket: a gun.  
"Holy shit!" Seifer quickly moved to hide behind a dumpster, the bullet missing him. A few more shots were fired at the dumpster, then all went quiet, except for the whimpering of the beaten up man.  
"Show yourself, coward!" screamed the man with the gun.  
"All right, then, as you wish," Seifer said, a harshness tone in his voice. He came out from behind the dumpster, running toward the man. A bullet was fired, but he ducked, the bullet missing.  
One good tackle and the gun man was down, Seifer on top, punching him in the face, the gun on the ground a couple feet away.  
Something moved behind him--  
"No! Don't do that!" Seifer was about to take the gun away from the beaten man--  
**BANG!** Too late.  
Blood splattered all over Seifer's clothes and face, bits and pieces of the man's brain on the ground.  
And he thought things could get any worse...  
Cop sirens close by; yeah, he knew what those were.  
"FREEZE!"  
"Ah shit... Not good, not good at all." Seifer prepared to explain to them what happened. **Exactly** what happened.  
BUT the beaten man seemed to be talking rather fast, pointing to him. He knew the man had said something wrong when the cop raised his gun at him.  
"You're under arrest! Put your hands behind your head, NOW!"  
"I'm innocent, dammit! INNOCENT!" yelled Seifer.  
"Shut up, punk, and do what I said! NOW!"  
No **way** was he going to not get charged with murder. He was screwed.  
'Damn this!' he thought, and decided to take his chances, turned around, and ran as fast as he could, the cop yelling and shooting at him._

Just had to get out before they found him.  
"Sir? Sir?"  
Seifer looked at the woman behind the counter. "Oh, yeah, one ticket to North Mrytle, South Carolina."  
He paid for the ticket the only way he knew how: with the credit card the nice man from before had "given" him.  
"I _know_ I saw him come in here," said a familiar voice.  
Seifer took the ticket quickly, knowing who it was and wanting to get the hell outta there before his ass was caught.  
He was on the plane and seated in under five minutes, and another five minutes later, the plane was flying away from the place called Las Vegas. Leaning back in the chair, he closed his eyes. _I've really fucked up this time, haven't I?_

****

Comin' up…Squall, Zell, and I meet Kuja! Again, all positive reviews are appreciated. Credit goes to Crystal being an awesome Seifer. :D


	5. Ch4: Kuja Creeps Me Out

****

This chapter I'm guessing will be SUPER LONG. All me, too. I really dedicated some time into writing up this. I'm confirming that'll be it for a little while on the updates.

Chapter 4: Kuja Creeps Me Out

October 24th, 2005. 8:29AM

****

Zell

Squall sat at the dining room table, sipping coffee from one of the Markham family's mugs as Zell decided to take the time to practice his moves. "I'm hoping she won't sleep in too late. It's almost eight-thirty." Just then, Marianne had stepped out of her bedroom on cue. Dincht spotted her in the hallway, walking towards the bathroom. "Yo, Squall, she's up." "Hey," Marianne said with a grin. "Good mornin'," he greeted, a smile on his face. "Didja sleep okay?"

Knowing from last night's journal posts between Marianne and Kuja, Squall and Marianne were arguing as to how to reply. Marianne actually admitted that Kuja's over flattering manner towards her were giving goosebumps. Like Irvine Kinneas, Kuja Tribal sure seemed to know on how to sweep girls off their feet. Only Marianne knew better, knowing him "too damn well", as she said to Squall and him on how much she knew about them.

"Yeah, slept fine," Marianne said while she went into the bathroom. One of her cats followed her in as she closed the door. A minute later, she stepped out and passed Zell to go into the kitchen. Squall stood up, holding the coffee mug in one hand. Zell stood in the doorway, watching them both. "See? I told you I usually get up around eight!" Marianne said to Squall as she opened up one of the cupboards nearby to get something. "Whatever," Squall responded in a non-caring tone. Then, he looked to whatever she was holding. "What's that?" Zell walked closer. "It's Lacri-Lube," Marianne said. Zell saw it, a blue and white little thing. "It's supposed to keep my left eye moist, still going through the B.P. phase and all." Zell remembered her explaining that to him, and he had to agree. To just wake up one morning and have one of your eyes burning and red, and the side of your face being stiff, and no known reason as to what caused it? That's one hell of a WEIRD virus!

"I have to do this before bed and when I get up," Marianne explained as she screwed the lid on the little toothpaste tube looking thing and put it back in the cupboard. She had a little gel glob on her finger, but Zell could barely see it. She placed it on her bottom lid of her left eye, and blinked a couple times. "Does that stuff sting any?" he wondered. "Nah, don't feel a thing," she said. "How long have you had Bell's Palsy? No one on Gala's ever had that before," Squall wondered. "Um... I think over a month or two. Yeah, first had B.P. sometime in September I think. Or was it August?" She smiled. "Of course, I'm looking a lot better. Smile's all normal, pretty much, and I can whistle. My left eye can almost fully close on its own." "No pain?" Leonhart asked, just interested to hear about the weird virus. "Never felt any. Of course, I've been through worse." "So you've told me," Zell said. "But...what exactly?"

Marianne shrugged and casually leaned against the counter behind them. "Sprained an ankle once. And one time I accidentally slammed a finger in a car door. Man, my little finger looked all nasty and bled for two days." "Ew..." Zell squinted at the image. "I didn't break a bone yet though," she said, like it was no big deal.

****

Marianne

"Well, I'm going to take care of the kitty boxes," Marianne announced and left the kitchen to get a jacket on. Somehow, from the way the temperature was in the house, it would be a bit of a chilly morning. She then slipped on her sneakers to go into the basement. Angel was down there, for the black cat followed her downstairs. "Good kitty," Marianne said, watching Angel go into the box and not doing her business on the carpet for once. She put all the stuff she had to toss in the woods of her backyard into one of the litter boxes and walked out the backdoor.

A part of her was nervous. Was it just her, or did Kuja just was looking forward to talking with her _only_? She didn't know, and thought that maybe Squall thought the same thing. _We can read each other alright, just as I always imagined. For a guy who got back to the old Squall after the break up with Rinoa, he's sure been a bit protective over me lately._ She insisted to posting to Kuja last night, feeling that Squall would've rubbed Kuja the wrong way. Ever since she talked about Kuja to him and Zell from yesterday afternoon, Marianne observed that Squall was starting to see on her side for a change. This was good, and he wasn't stressing her out.

Now Kuja was. There was a great uneasiness when communicating to the genome on last night. And the fact that _he_ found **_her_** instead of the other way around made the more of an unsettling feeling in her stomach. _I'm hoping that he'll talk and tolerate the guys. I seriously hope he doesn't..._

By the time she was done cleaning the kitty box, something rather unpleasant happened. As she put the purple box down, her right sneaker accidentally stepped in some cat poop on the carpet. "Oh _GREAT_," she grumbled sarcastically, and began to feel highly annoyed. "Damn it..." Now cat crap was all over the bottom of her sneaker! She would have to clean it up, and whatever was left of the mess on the carpet.

**A/N: The cat poop under my shoe part actually happened that day...ugh, it made me sooo mad...**

Taking the cat poop stained sneaker in her hand and still wearing the other, she walked up the stairs. She had been so carried away in her suspicions that THIS happened! How very unfortunate. Zell was watching her coming up the stairs. "Dude, what happened?" he asked. "I heard you downstairs." "Accidentally stepped in a little pile of cat crap, and I didn't see it as I was done taking care of the litter boxes." She showed him the shoe, feeling grumpy as hell right now. "Aw man, that sucks... Hey, I'll help clean it up if you want. No big deal. "Yeah, okay," she said, calming down. _Zell's so cool..._ "You can't miss it, right in front of the tannish litter box." "Yeah, you go on ahead and clean your shoe," Zell said and went to get the paper towel roll.

Squall looked at her for a second, and opened his mouth to speak. "Don't," Marianne huffed and held a hand up in front of her towards him, probably knowing what he was going to say, knowing him as much as she knew herself. "My cats just need to be told another quadrillion times to do it in the freakin' _litter boxes_, not on the damn carpet!" She sighed heavily in annoyance and held her cat poop stained, really smelly sneaker in one hand, and getting out a frying pan and other dishes out of the sink with the other.

She didn't want to hear Squall say **anything**, knowing that he knew that this situation was not that great when Marianne was still waking up. She saw the blue sponge in the ceramic fish that her dad got as a gift. A plastic bag full of Swedish fish used to be in the bigger fish's mouth when he first got it. Speaking of her parents, they didn't actually mind them of staying over, thank God. Since they didn't go to school or any nearby community college. She guessed Mom and Dad thought it was great for her to have a couple new friends over, for she didn't get out of the house very much before. Now, with Squall and Zell acting and looking real as any other human being, with Kuja on the loose, she'd probably have to be out of the house more than ever. The two needed her help in getting to know Earth and stuff, and needed their help to handle Kuja. If it had to come to sacrificing more of her savings to buy a PS2 for Christmas, then she would just do it. Now she wasn't so eager of playing the FFX series, for that world may be real too. She knew a bit about the characters and their stories, but not enough and never played X or X-2. _Oh YEAH...speakin' of X-2, didn't Crystal mention she found Paine's journal!_ So Tidus, Yuna, Baralai, Gippal, Nooj, and Rikku had to exist too. A somewhat disturbing possibility...

Never the less, she turned on the hot water, let the sponge soak and squirted some dish detergent into it. _Not only do I have to clean my shoe, but some dishes as well,_ she thought, knowing this as she scrubbed the cat crap out of the bottom of her sneaker the best she could, while Zell was doing the best _he_ could to clean what's left of the mess downstairs...

****

Kuja

He decided to walk it, leaving White Dragon to hide himself from plain sight back at the hotel he stayed at. There was a big department and clothing store in Maine. A "Target". He knew back when on the day of the arrival, in trying to buy some clothes and other necessities and items, Gil wasn't accepted. He didn't have their money. The big problem was that he'd have to put suggestions into a lot of people around him. It wasn't something to be happy about at ALL, but Kuja was doing this for Marianne, to whom he was really, _really_ looking forward to.

While at this Target store, he'd have to pick up something to offer to his canary as a gift. Maybe flowers or chocolates, or anything that seems to catch his eye. He was in the same clothing he wore yesterday, which wasn't that great. He had to wear some clean clothes anyway. He noticed some of the adult humans staring at him. With just thinking about it, he was CLOSE to lightly suggesting for them do something those people wouldn't normally do. ...But he didn't want to make a scene. With his temper, it was difficult in not doing _something_ to make the gaping idiots go away. So he just made them go do other things, such as look at the clothing and that they didn't see a man in clothing that revealed a lot of his skin in public. Yes, Kuja would have to blend in, and stash away his normal clothes.

He picked a long sleeve of a certain shade of green that he liked from the Men's clothing department, and a pair of khakis. Blue jeans, in feeling their rough texture, didn't seem to go with him really well, since he had to hide his damn tail all the time. Such a skinny little unpleasant body part covered in silver fur. He was as human as everyone else, so showing his tail would get others' attention. _I hope you'll appreciate what I do for you, canary,_ he thought, thinking over and over that he was going out of his way to do all this for Marianne. That way he wouldn't get too angry and want to do something he'd get thrown in jail for. Ah, the life and glamour of Kuja Tribal has never been easy, and it never would be.

He looked in an aisle of a costume section of the store. There wasn't much that he'd actually tolerate to wear, but there was a black cape of thin fabric with a hood that seemed okay enough to hide his hair. He been to this area before, but there wasn't much of anything to wear in public. Just what in the world was this Halloween business about, anyway? There were some other adults, looking among the costumes. Women in particular. They stared, so Kuja put ideas into their minds: to go find their own men. Sorry, for Kuja was now taken. He had a special someone, and he knew who was on his mind and all this trouble he had to go through to just **meet** Marianne. Poor, poor Kuja.

Carrying the bundle of clothing in his arms, trying his hardest to not lose a temper, he kept thinking of the girl still. He promised her a gift, didn't he? _When all of this is through, I may have to change some things on this world..._ He deeply considered this. Why should he have to "fit in" with everyone else? Why couldn't he just go out, dressed as he was? Well, that was something to think about, later on today. Possibly with Marianne, maybe? ...Perhaps.

He started to look for the flowers section of the store, having to deal and work his magic with EVERY SINGLE PERSON he walked past to just find something to give to the lady he had a liking to. Next time, they'll know better than to gawk at Kuja. They'll definitely think twice about them. Stupid pheasants.

He was in a hurry, wondering what time it was, so he just picked something. A little white teddy bear holding a little red heart, stitched between its arms. Yes, he'd figure she'd love something like that. He supposed other females on Earth like her liked teddies.

He still didn't have any Earth money, so he projected thoughts into everyone around him to make them think the items were already paid for. Kuja snatched one of the plastic bags, and put his chosen outfit and the teddy bear into it. Tossing it over his bag, he left the store to hike back to the hotel, which wasn't very far to his relief. No one would ever suspect that Kuja had _stolen_ these things. Boo hoo for them. They'll live. It won't be the end of this happy, busy, busy world for a few of their precious things to be lost to a thief. Shoplifting had to be a common thing on Earth, as well as it was on Gaia.

But probably they weren't used to what Kuja did to them. It's THEIR FAULT for gaping and seeing him on the television, and just now. Their fault that that haven't created the type of clothing he liked to wear. The men's clothing department made him cringe in disgust. Suddenly, he felt he understood why Marianne and her friends had to be so cautious about themselves. Kuja started to think that the kind of attention he'd gotten yesterday wasn't something to be so amused about anymore...

****

Squall

Zell had told Marianne that the mess one of her cats made on the floor was cleaned up the best he could, with water and ice magic spells. Squall disapproved at first, but then figured, whatever. They weren't on their world right now, and wouldn't be until they would be ready to go back.

As of now, things had gotten more complicated than they have supposed to be. This Kuja was getting to be a pain in the ass to deal with, in Leonhart's opinion. That scared look he saw again told him that this guy wouldn't hesitate to get them ALL directed to Earth reporters from all around Marianne's home world. None of them wanted such attention. Kuja could cause chaos and destruction, too, if they hadn't contacted him. It would be a bad reputation for him, Zell, Seifer, and now Sophia and this "Final Fantasy Ten-Two" person named Paine that Marianne knew a _little_ about.

Marianne got changed and brushed her teeth and hair, and talked about not having to walk all the way to the Wal-Mart in Prince Frederick. They could take the next bus by the Chesapeake Marketplace. A little less walking and complaining for everyone.

She paid for the bus trip, taking her purse along with her. On time, just a few minutes before the deadline, they made it to Prince Frederick and ran across the huge parking lot to stand on the sidewalk. "You ready for this, guys?" he heard Marianne ask. Squall turned, and nodded, resting his hand on the Lionheart gunblade's handle in case Kuja would try to do something he'd regret. "Are you?" he asked, hoping she was. She just nodded. "Let's just get this over with. I'm not exactly thrilled to be doing this." "Make that all of us," Zell agreed with no objections.

Marianne blew out a sigh, as if she'd been holding her breath for a long time, and looked around nervously. She probably knew that they wouldn't let **_anything bad_** happen to her, but felt nervous all the same. Had to be scared inside, knowing what she knew. He fully understood how she felt, and then decided to help point out Kuja.

It wasn't long before someone came into view. He couldn't see the person's face real clearly, but saw what the person wore. A black cape and hood around his head, with a dark green long sleeve shirt and light brown khakis. He watched and waited as the person walked closer and closer. What got his attention were the footwear. The sunlight shimmered off of a silver armor material. Some type of boots or fancy shoes. A silver feather dangled and drooped over the figure's forehead. "It's him," Marianne whispered. "Oh _God_, it's him." Squall's hold around the handle of his gunblade tightened. If Kuja tried to pull a stunt of any kind toward Marianne, then he and Zell would have to defend the Earth girl.

****

Marianne

She stared at Kuja's face as he returned her gaze, softly smiling as he came closer, walking and not running. Taking his time. _Try to be happy to see him. Don't show him you're afraid,_ Marianne told herself, placing her life into Squall and Zell's hands. She had faith in them to protect her if Kuja made a wrong move. She had to trust them, or else the whole plan she had in her mind would fall apart. But WHAT to say to him made her feel stuck.

The group stood, a few feet apart. Squall, Zell, and Marianne standing next to each other on one side: Kuja standing by himself on the other. She didn't see his dragon nearby, so that was a good thing. He followed her instructions.

"You probably wish you were anywhere but here," Kuja spoke to her. She blinked, confused by the statement, but then it clicked: the code they came up with! Quickly, she spoke the next lyric as if she were reciting the Strata song she loved as a poem. "Remember this now, 'cause it soon will disappear," she said, faintly feeling the urge to sing that song. And yet, the two lines gave her a possible dark foreshadow that made her insides quiver: That Earth may not exist anymore if Kuja... _No, that's NOT going to happen. NOT._

Kuja gave her a smile that disturbed her, but she forced a small grin, trying to push away from the fact that her stomach was doing flip flops. Out of the corner of her eye, Squall's form tensed, ready for Kuja to do something. As a matter of fact, he did do something, but not to what he'd expect. He uncovered part of his cape, revealing to her a little white teddy bear. He handed to her, with one hand, and took a gentle hold of the other. He was _touching_ her. Kuja Tribal, the twisted and couldn't be helped villain she knew from FF9, had touched her. His grin remained. "You're not average," he told her. "Your eyes are a lovely shade of blue, mixing in with the green of the salty waters in Gaia. You look very pretty."

Squall was about to move, but Marianne gave a look that said not to. Kuja released her hand, and looked to Squall and Zell. "These are your friends, the other out worlders?" Zell tried to say something, but Marianne cut him off, saying. "Yeah, to my left is Squall, and the other is Zell." Kuja turned to Squall. "The serious type, as you've told me." He noticed the scar on his face, which wasn't hard to notice at all. "Quite a nasty little scar he have there," he mused, almost as if in a laughing manner. He looked to Zell, who was trying to contain his anger. Turning back to Marianne, he quirked an eyebrow, in a dismal expression. "Is something wrong with him?"

"Let's just get on with it," Squall said. Marianne nodded. "So, where are you taking us?" Kuja looked surprised, and then shook his head in amusement. "All of you? No, there's only room on my dragon for two." "Bull," Squall said, perfectly calm by the way, to which made Marianne gape at him in horror. "You're just saying that so you could have your way with her." _Shit..._ Marianne thought, thinking that would start to hit a nerve from Kuja.

She wanted to get behind Squall and Zell, but couldn't. "If you're going to talk, you'll have to do it with us." Kuja gave Marianne an expectant look. She was focusing to the fullest to remain calm. Tribal looked to Leonhart. "What? You don't trust me? You don't trust her? Are you just friends, or are you bodyguards, too?"

****

Kuja

The man in the leather jacket (to which he really liked) stood his ground, glaring at him. "He's right," the spiky blonde young fool with the tattoo on his face said. Zell was his name, if he heard Marianne correctly. "As far as we're concerned, we've let you stalk us, but that doesn't mean we're leaving Marianne alone with you." Marianne looked to Zell in shock, and then placed a hand on his shoulder. Zell nodded, sharing a private exchange of looks that Kuja did not understand.

"Do you think I'm lying?" he asked Marianne's friends, feeling slightly annoyed. The two men didn't know a _thing_ about White Dragon. They just assumed that he'd be able to fly to Miami with everyone on his back. Yet, the other side of him _preferred_ to converse with the lovely lady without having their stern and withholding angry expressions watching them. Kuja wasn't blind. He could see that they didn't like him, and were being a bit over protective in his opinion. Marianne seemed glad to see him, but felt confused about this at the same time.

"My dragon may be large, but he can't carry anymore than two people at a time. That'll hurt my pet's back. Do you expect to waste our scheduled time to chat, flying back and forth to be all in one place? It's rather far away, this place I had in mind." Squall, the man with the thin dark red mark on his face placed his hand on the weapon strapped to his waist. He didn't know what it was, but probably some type of sword. The hilt was curled backward and strange.

Marianne, gentle Marianne, placed a hand on his shoulder. "I think it'll be okay." Squall turned to her. "No, you're not going alone. We went over this." "I assure you that she'll be perfectly safe with me," Kuja told Squall in persuasion, forcing to tolerate him. It wasn't easy. He shrugged his shoulders, and acted as casual as he could be. "We just want to talk. That is all, besides, didn't Marianne let me know on the journal that she can't be away from home for very long?" He turned to the lovely canary, hoping she would help him out. "He's right. I got dishes to wash, remember?" _Dishes to wash? Is that all? Oh my..._ All by herself? He felt sorry for her.

"Can't your friends do you the favor?" Kuja lightly suggested. "If that's really what is keeping you..." She looked to him. "Um, well, I really have to be home by three. My family doesn't know what we know. It's best to keep it that way. My folks think Squall and Zell are just new neighbors to Calvert County." Kuja nodded once, bowing in understanding. _Plenty of time to get to know you, precious..._

"Squall, I don't think anything will happen," Marianne said, hoping to get his approval. _Good girl,_ he thought, so that they could feel free to do whatever they liked. Especially on Kuja's part. Squall gave her a look of concern. "I'll be fine," she told him firmly. "Yes, we'll be fine," Kuja confirmed. Squall shot him a look, but Kuja forced himself to not do anything.

Squall turned back to Marianne and said, "Watch yourself." She nodded, and wrapped her arms around him. The look on Squall's face told Kuja he wasn't expecting _that_. "Thanks," she said, after releasing him, and then blushed. "Sorry..." The moment amused Kuja. "Yo, you better not-" Zell started to say. "Watch out for her," Squall interjected to Kuja. "If you're really just going to talk, do nothing else." Kuja smiled, feeling lucky that Marianne won him over to this. He drew Marianne close to him, an arm around her shoulders as she held on to the teddy bear he gave to her. He said, "Make sure those dishes are spotless, and sparkly clean! I'll have her back to you by three." He laughed, and began to lead her away.

They walked out of the parking lot, and by the side of the road in the grass. When they were out of earshot, he admitted to Marianne, "I personally do not like your friends. They're a bit too overprotective over you, and don't exactly like strangers." _And that they seem to be way too cautious and suspicious of me for their own good._ What would they think he'd do to her? "That's okay," Marianne said calmly, moving his arm off her. "Not everyone can get along with everybody. But really, they're cool. I understand how you feel about Squall. He's not exactly very sociable. Zell is though, if you give him time, you might get used to him. Can be a goof at times." _I don't care about them, and I don't think I ever will._ "Really? Well, I'll try to have patience," he lied, knowing he didn't want to warm up to those two.

After a moment of awkward silence, Marianne asked him, "So, where are we going?" Kuja chuckled, thinking about not telling her directly. "It's a surprise, my dear. I think you'll be impressed." She smiled, rolling her eyes playfully. It made Kuja laugh again. "Give me a little hint: someplace far, or not?" "Someplace far," Kuja said. "And that's all I'll be telling you." "Okay then," she said, easygoing. Kuja looked at her, keeping this moment going. "I like the way you are, right now." He saw that he had the teddy bear tucked under one arm. "I see you like the present I gave to you?" "It's cute," she said. "Soft..." Her expression was less happy...

****

Zell

"Squall...you think it was _really_ okay to let her go with that creep?"

The two SeeDs from Gala watched their friend being led away from them by Kuja, his arm around her shoulders. Zell's seen the way she acted around him, and didn't like being touched by him. No shit, after learning what she's explained about that psycho. He had been cut off from blurting out something that he'd regret. I guess he, in a way, appreciated that because he could never really contain the wild fire-like energy about him. Another part of him he'd been damn lucky to control: the urge to kick Kuja's ass. They let Marianne give him directions, and now she was slipping out of their hands. Zell wasn't allowed to do a goddamn thing about it. It was when Marianne and Kuja were completely gone when he asked his superior that question.

Squall looked like he was spacing out, still staring forward, in the direction as to where the other two had gone. Not a word came from him. "...We could run after them and stop this," Dincht suggested. _HOW can you even consider that? She's our friend, and you're leaving her alone with a Hyne damn lunatic! You stupid IDIOT!_ He wanted to say that, but couldn't. He was just too shocked to absorb what Squall had just decided.

"Squall," Zell called to him again. Squall said, still staring ahead, "I don't think we have a choice. ...We have to trust Marianne on this." "What! Are you even listening to yourself?" Zell said in a panic. "We all know-" Squall faced him, his eyes narrowing. "What do you think would've happened if we didn't let them go?" That stopped Zell for a minute, before he managed to come up with an answer. "She would have still been with US!" "But," Squall added to the statement, "We would've caused Kuja to blow a fuse, and right now I think that Marianne knows exactly what she's doing." "Man, I don't think so," Zell disagreed, worried.

Squall nodded in understanding. "Let's go back to Marianne's house, and turn on the television. If something happens, then it'll be on the news. Kuja would reveal himself publicly if he did something to her. He's a psychopath, right? If you lose your temper, you can't think straight." Zell blinked, thinking that it all made sense. "But, I still..." "It's her planet, Zell. Let her try, and if he violates our friend in any way, then we won't repeat the same mistake again."

With that said, Squall motioned Zell to follow his lead. He hesitated, shaking his head, not believing Squall. _He's right though. This risk has to be taken. If Marianne knows Kuja as much as she does, then nothing bad could possibly happen._ "Hurry up or I'm leaving you here," Squall said, snapping Dincht away from his thoughts. As they ran, Squall said to him, "I think she'll be okay, Zell. If something goes wrong, it'll be on TV." "But what if she ends up dead?" Squall didn't answer, probably not wanting to think about the outcome of that at all...

****

Marianne

Marianne looked to Kuja, saying, "Hey, sorry you had to go spend any earnings you had on such short notice. I guess you had enough though. I'll-" Kuja cut her off, telling her, "I didn't need to buy these clothes." His mouth pressed into a thin line. "But some people just don't mind their own businesses." Her eyes widened, shocked, but her voice was surprisingly very calm. "You stole them?" Kuja smiled again. "It wasn't easy, Marianne." His smile grew a little bigger. "I like saying your name. It rolls right off my tongue." Marianne forced a little laugh, to try and continue to sugarcoat herself around him. It was a nervous laugh.

"So, how did you get away?" she asked, just curious. The not quite sane genome seemed happy to explain. "Simple. I can manipulate others, by making them do different things by putting suggestive thoughts into their minds." Well, _THAT_ didn't sit well in her stomach. Kuja, however, kept talking. "I could just easily think it, speaking telepathically and they'll do as I ask. Sometimes it can be very fun. It's sort of a hobby of mine..." He laughed lightly, straining not to lose himself in his laughter it seemed, his shoulders moving up and down as he did. "Whenever I was bored on Gaia, I'd simply go to a town and pick someone a distance away. I'd make him do things that normally anyone would do. But I never use the same person..."

He went on for a little more, talking about these alarmingly incredible ability to take over someone and move him or her around like a puppet. He moved some of his platinum colored hair aside. _Yeah, he's definitely a bragger about himself, like me._ A bad habit that neither of them could help sometimes. But, knowing that this kind of thing wasn't ordinary to her as it was to Kuja himself, she had listened to every word.

"How much farther until we see your dragon?" Marianne _had_ to ask. A part of her was really eager to see this dragon, up and personal. To what she saw on the TV, it looked so damn cool, flying the way it did. The scales a shiny silvery white, and the wings' feathers were a few different shades of green. Excited and afraid, a part of her knew that she was going to take a ride with Kuja on it.

"Not too much farther," Kuja said. "He's quite magnificent." _Yeah, I'll bet!_ "Okay, cool," was what she actually said, and then finally decided to start telling him on what he needed to know before all this got too intimidating. "Um, listen, Kuja? There's a lot I have to tell you about...on what's going on and all." "I understand," he said, easy going. "I know...a lot about you." He seemed surprised, but not in the way she expected it to be. It was like he was impressed about that or something. "Oh, you do? You've heard about me?" _Careful with what you say. One wrong move and I could be dead in one second..._ "Um, yeah. Actually, not just me, but a lot of people on this world have known about you for quite some time." Kuja raised a brow, somewhat amazed. "Huh. I did not know that."

Just then, Kuja stopped. "Our ride is down there," he pointed, down below past the guardrail they stood next to. A car drove past, but didn't pay attention to them. Marianne watched it speed by, but Kuja didn't seem to notice. "Follow my lead!" he said, causing her to turn her head around as he took a leap over the guardrail. Marianne just stepped over it, and saw him at the bottom of the hill. One of her sneakers slipped on the grass, causing her to slide down the hill. Kuja softened the landing by catching her. "Thanks," she said, and brushed pieces of grass off of her T-shirt. "Not a problem," he said, and took her hand. "This way..." After a few more paces, she finally saw his dragon. "Whoa..." was all she could say, "pulling a Neo" in her terms as the very sight had took her breath away. Kuja walked up the feathered wing, tugging her up there with him. "...How safe is he?" she had to ask, suddenly feeling her guts turn into wriggling Jello. "Very safe. You don't have to worry," Kuja told her with another smile and told the dragon to take off.

Marianne felt the need to kneel as she watched the wings move up and down, rising all of them slowly to the sky. But Kuja pulled her back on her feet, and held her close to him. "Are you frightened, Marianne?" Her whole body twitched by the sound of his voice in her ear. "The chances of falling off White Dragon are slim." "Okay," she said, trying to sound calm, but it was impossible with _the_ Kuja Tribal, standing right behind her, arms around her waist and hearing him speak softly into her ear. But what was more scary? Falling off, that's what.

Higher and higher, Marianne couldn't help but look as everything looked so much smaller as Kuja's dragon found a thermal and rode it to ride the next one. "Oh God..." Marianne moaned Kuja. "Don't let me fall." "I most _certainly_ won't," he told her gently. "Enjoy yourself." Enjoy herself? Like that was an easy thing to do. Kuja released her, and she watched as he walked up to its ear to whisper something. _No, he wouldn't **dare**..._ She felt very vulnerable, trembling as she felt the need to sit down again. Kuja laughed as he came back toward her. "You think I'm actually going to let my pet go into a dive or something? I know better. It's your first time flying, isn't it?" Marianne nodded quickly, extremely nervous. "Definitely my first time on a dragon." "Then the ride will go smooth all the way. We have plenty of time to get to where we need to be..." _Whew, that's a relief..._

After a while of getting used to it, Marianne didn't feel so vulnerable on a moving dragon. It felt like being on the ground, except with passing clouds. It was slow and smooth. She was told by Kuja not to look down, and he kept taking her mind off of that by talking to her. "He's quite gentle, and before today, I only allowed myself to ride him," he said, talking about the dragon, obviously. "He likes being talked to like a normal person. He understands our language." "Uh, neat," Marianne said, forcing to smile to push back the fear and nervousness she was feeling. "I kind of treat my cats the same way." "At home, you mean?" Kuja guessed. "Yeah," she replied. "They're at home, probably sleeping." Kuja smiled. "Pet cats are known to do that often."

****

Kuja

The wind blew back Marianne's dark brown curls, revealing her pretty face. The expression still showed fear, meaning Kuja will have to take her flying often to get used to it. Today, she somewhat adjusted. Adapted, but he had to keep her comfortable. Kuja had to make sure she didn't look down, or else she wouldn't be able to remain standing, fearing that she'd just topple off if she wasn't careful. He knew his dragon too well.

"Tell me a bit about yourself," Kuja suggested, to make his special guest not think of falling. She reacted as if she were being in a interrogation. "Um... I write, love music...Music being a major part of my life..." _She writes?_ "You write?" he marveled. "Like poetry?" She responded, "Yeah, poems, stories... Anything but plays. Not good at those." "Could you recite one of your poems for me, if you can?" Marianne stared at him. "Uh...not right now, no." Kuja nodded curtly. "Maybe later," Marianne said, the faintest of smiles dawning. "I'd like that," he said, and he really would. _Probably a very good poet._

"Are we almost there?" she asked. "Yes," he said, taking a hold of both her hands. "You seem a bit squeamish about heights, but I hope you don't mind the place I picked out for us." "As long as it's solid ground, I think I'll be fine," she said honestly, causing him to nod.

White Dragon slowly descended as Kuja instructed him. He showed Marianne how he got off, by sliding down one of the wings. She did, not landing on her feet, so Kuja offered to help her up. She took it. "Wow, that was...exciting," Marianne said to him, rather nervously, her eyes looking at their new surroundings. "We are...?" "In Miami," Kuja simply told her. An eyebrow raised, confused for a moment. "Miami, Florida?" She walked to one end of the roof top of the high building to gaze upon the city, then looked down. "Whoa, don't want to fall and go splat down there," she said, the very statement amusing him. "No, you don't," he said, doing his best to contain his laughter. This girl was funny, in a way.

Marianne sighed, gathered the courage, and turned to him again. "Alright, uh, what I'm having to explain to you is going to sound crazy." She smiled a crooked smile. "It's pretty important information you need to know." Kuja was all ears, wondering what it was she had to explain. He was curious. Marianne had caught his interest from the start, and he wasn't about to lose that anytime soon.

Much calmer than she had been before, she leaned up against the wall behind her, looking down in thought. She looked up, and said, "There's this far off country on the other side of the world, called Japan. And knowing that Earth's technology is more advanced than yours, I don't think you know what video games are." _...Video games? Hm..._ "There's the TV, to which you know about." "The box shaped device that shows recorded moving pictures," Kuja confirmed. "Well, that's one part. The other..."

****

Marianne

In this explanation about video games, she had to break it down. Kuja asked questions, and clarified specific parts, and mentioned he was eager to experience what she has experienced. Probably with other games, but not Final Fantasy 9. _This_, Marianne knew.

"I have quite a collection, but I could show you the games another time. I'm not even sure if you really want to, because this next part gets even _more_ complicated." "Earth is a very complex place. Maybe there are still a few things I've yet to take the time to learn more about," he admitted. "I have to thank you for telling me about what you know on 'video games'." The way he kept looking at her with interest just made her want to squirm, but she held her ground as Kuja said, "Go on..."

She hesitated. _Okay, prepare yourself,_ she silently told him before saying the first thing to come to mind. "...I know you're not quite human." Kuja's blue eyes opened, incredulous, but he didn't say anything. She shrugged her shoulders, adding, "I'm curious as to how you hide your tail..." She saw his hand touch his side, probably touching as to where his tail would be. "You weren't kidding when you said you knew about me," Kuja said. "I'm curious, and confused." He looked at her in the eyes, his interest of what she had to say, never fading.

Marianne, as carefully as she could explain, told him all about Squaresoft and the Final Fantasy series, number nine in particular. Because, duh, because Kuja used to be just a game character before she saw the news yesterday morning. She told him what she knew of Garland, him, Zidane and his friends. And about the world of Gaia. And Kuja listened, abnormally quiet than he'd ever had been since they've met. Very calm and attentive, and she just kept on going, stopping every now and then to expect the anger. Expecting something **very** bad to happen to her, and the entire world of Earth. But Kuja did none of the above. He kept telling her to go on until she told him everything she could.

He wore a frown by the time she was done, and took a few steps forward. Marianne had started to feel scared again, knowing that this silence was so not like Kuja Tribal-like. His back was turned, gazing at the city of Miami ahead. And after about a few minutes of quiet, his words were, "Well, there will be some changes." Her blood turned cold. _Shit... Okay, okay, keep calm..._

"What are you going to do, Kuja?" she had to ask, her voice tight in her throat. He turned, his black cape wavering a bit on his back as he did. His expression was grim at first, and then turned into a sinister, cold smile. "I guess since you've been so helpful to me, I might as well share my thoughts with you." He remained where he stood, as he asked, "Would you like to hear them, Marianne?" "Yeah," she said after just a split second of hesitation.

"I love this planet," he said. "I wish to never turn it in to Terra. I'm _through_ with Terra, and Garland. Earth shall be my new home, and I want to own everything in it." She struggled to hold her ground as he talked. "I'm tired of the attention I've been getting. It's not the kind I really like." Marianne spoke up. "Then, I could try to help you." "Help me?" Kuja said. "I'm not even finished with what _I_ have to say." She nodded, apologetic. "Right, sorry. Go on..."

****

Kuja

Kuja let the too much warmth get to him, as he enthusiastically shared his demands with her. "I don't want to have to 'fit in', wearing not so tasteful garments like _this_," he said, giving the long sleeve shirt he wore a tug. "I don't mind about the money, just as long as I can wear what I want." Marianne nodded in understanding, which made him feel confidence as he kept talking with her. "And what of my dragon? I don't wish to have to keep telling him to hide. I'd like White Dragon to feel free and safe in this world."

His eyebrows furrowed, thinking back to what he's read online about the situation in a foreign country known as Iraq. "And this war that's going on, with this terrorist business... I'd like for that to be put to a halt." "Yeah, I'd like it too," she said. "But what can you do?" "I could go over there," Kuja said. "And get blown up?" Marianne countered. "No, there's too much risk involved into stopping the mess all over the world, all by yourself." _How thoughtful of you, to be so concerned about me._ "There's the army, and there's you," Kuja said. "I won't have to worry about getting blown up."

She held up her hands. "Nuh-uh. I don't think so. I'm not the military type." "...You don't have to be," Kuja said. "So, you plan to hunt Osama Bin Laden too?" Marianne questioned, in a sort of humorous manner. "Eventually," Kuja said. Marianne shook her head, disagreeing. "I don't know..." "You don't think I can do it?" he asked, as he walked closer, her uneasiness and lack of confidence in him making his skin crawl. "Everything will turn out for the better, once I take charge," Kuja said, feeling the utter confidence he had from before start to boil back up again. "I'll be respected and admired. Everyone would think twice before ridiculing, hating, and staring at me." "Okay, but before you march into it, I think you should negotiate with the big guy in this country," Marianne heavily suggested. "The president of the United States."

He stopped to consider this. _Of course! Why hadn't I think of that before? I could overthrow him easily. Doing a rather poor job of running things..._ (**A/N: So true...LOL! Vote for Kuja! XD**) He could go over there, tell his demands, and have them done the moment he's done with George W. Bush.

He smiled, appreciating Marianne in his company. _She gives me the options, and helps elaborate the consequences._ "Perfect," he said to her. He looked at the time. 2:15PM. Still some time to spend. He wanted to change the subject. "We'll talk to him tomorrow, alright? I think I just remembered that I have a checkup to go to," Marianne spoke up quickly before he could say anything. "Checkup?" Kuja echoed. "It's just a little weird nerve infection along the left side of my face I have called Bell's Palsy," she said. "It's nothing too serious, and I'm healing rather quickly." Kuja considered her needs first, for once, which was something that he'd never done before. He'd have to look up this Bell's Palsy later.

_Oh, I almost forgot. There's a little something I still need from you, sweet canary..._

****

Marianne

__

Well, it's a start. I've prevented Kuja to do something less chaotic. ...I just never expected him to be so calm when I told him all he needed to know... She felt a lot better, feeling that she did alright in prodding and steering Kuja away from the path of chaos and destruction. Maybe after a civilized talk with the president, he wouldn't have to be so concerned about fitting in so much. And it was a miracle that he's been able to not lose a temper at her or anything. No problems at all.

As she was just trying to relax, Kuja said something out of the blue. "Remember when you said that you _might_ sing those lyrics on your journal to me? Do you think you could sing now, after how well everything turned out?" _What?_ Startled and just caught off guard, she wasn't sure if she was in the mood. "Um, after everything we discussed, you think it's alright for me to sing? I think...it's not the time." "Oh? Why not?" Kuja asked, pretending to be hurt. "I just think it's an awkward time right now. Sorry," she apologized. "But I'd _really_ would appreciate it if you sang to me right now," he said. "You've kept your word..." "I know, but, how about tomorrow?" The look on his face told her he wasn't exactly pleased. He frowned, looking disappointed, and then annoyed.

_Sing to me, Marianne, my canary,_ his voiced called...in her head! She gaped, and it was too late to close her mouth before the first line of a certain song had been sung. _"You probably wish you were anywhere but here."_ She wanted to stop, but Kuja wasn't letting her control her own voice! _"Remember this now, 'cause it soon will disappear."_ She tried to hold her breath, and struggled to gain control over her lungs. _Dammit Kuja, knock it OFF! STOP!_

_"You find yourself wishing you're anyone but you."_ She had little control, and her voice strained to as she tried to gain control of her vocal chords. Kuja smiled as Marianne couldn't help but sing the rest of the first verse. _"I'm starting to wish I were anyone but me. And I...will be brohhhhken by this._" Not liking this at all, she had no choice but to give in until the whole song was sung, and then she would have to be firm and put her foot down. Kuja just mentally attacked her by surprise and it was just too overwhelming.

Without controlling any part of her body, it relaxed a little, her muscles giving a little slack. _"As soon as you wake, you will find me on my way... And soon when it's safe, you may find a love again..."_ Her eyes closed, and then opened, focusing on Kuja, who looked like he was enjoying himself. Why wouldn't he? Not only was this a damn good song, but she actually had no choice but to put up with this! _"And I...will be brohhhhken by this. Sweet dream, it's all I have."_

****

Kuja

__

"It seems that it oh, always bleeds like this... When nothing feels wrong and nothing feels right, you're knocked down and dying and you'll stand right back up and fall all alone. All in this... Sweet dream, it's all I have... Sweet dream... It's all I have..."

_So pretty, and I don't understand why you hide your lovely voice from me,_ Kuja thought to her, without much effort, and continued to listen to her softly croon a few notes softly. How he managed to make her sing this song? He found out she's sung this numerous times, looking within her memory. It was a nice song, and her singing moved him.

_"It's the finest moment that you've ever had...like a falling star in the palm of your hand..."_ _Exactly how I feel right now,_ Kuja thought to himself, and listened as she finished up the song. _"Sweet dream, it's all I have... Sweet dream, it's all I've got..."_ A band had performed this song, a band named Strata that Marianne enjoyed listening to, from what he recalled by looking and **experiencing** specific fragments of her memories.

Once she was free to move on her own, she looked very angry. It caused Kuja to smile deviously, knowing she would be upset. Calm and firm, she said to him, "I hope you enjoyed, because that's **not** going to happen again." "It wasn't _too_ bad, was it?" He was close, in her personal space, to which she was about to step back. Kuja didn't let her and drew her close. He caught the refreshing clean smell from her hair. Then he gazed deep into those glaring, but beautiful eyes of hers and spilled how the song felt to him. "I heard that song as if I were right there, listening to the actual recorded performance. Breath taking," he breathed. "Take me home, please," she told him slowly and very firmly. "Of course, you should be getting back soon, but first." She wanted to break free, but Kuja felt that she was just playing hard to get. "I like you, very much," Kuja said, causing her to stop. He let go then, saying, "But you need to loosen up." "We're leaving, _now_," she said, her amazing voice as deadly as one of the most terrifying monsters from Gaia. "Feisty too," Kuja mused. "I like that."

The ride was uneventful. He understood the distance she wanted from him. He did a possibly wrong move, but it was for the greater good he believed. He was starting to really like this girl. Impressive, open minded, talented, and had a sense of humor, it seemed. A dark sense of humor, but he liked that. He was feeling something he hadn't felt before. Something that made his heart flutter and so...filled with JOY! _Love, I think this emotion is..._

****

Squall

Leonhart kept checking his watch as it kept getting closer and closer to 3PM. He was deeply in concern for Marianne's safety, but if he didn't trust her to try to speak with Kuja like she wanted, then the chance would have been gone to try again, in the blink of an eye. Zell was inside, to keep an eye on the news.

Squall heard the inside door opening behind him. Alert, Squall demanded of Zell, standing there with a look of shock, "Did something happen?" "Yeah, but it's not about Kuja. It's about Seifer, man. I think you should take a look at this..." _Great...what else is new,_ a sarcastic thought appeared on his mind as he followed Zell up the stairs to look at what was on the big, wide screen silver TV. There was a rough sketch that had Almasy's mug on it. A female reporter's voice told Squall WHY this was shown on the screen. "A police officer in Las Vegas, Nevada said this man had shot and killed another and fled from the scene, denying he did it and that he was innocent. He was last seen running into an airport, and had caught the next flight to South Carolina. This man is dangerous. If you see him, please call the following number..."

"Fuck," he hissed, now realizing what trouble Seifer had gotten himself into. If he really killed that man, then Leonhart would have to reprimand him from the mission and send him back to Balamb Garden, back on their world. "I hope Sophia knocked some sense into him," Zell said, angry as well. _Knowing her well, she probably already did,_ Squall mentally assumed.

But what concerned him the most was Marianne. He placed her to talk with the psychopath, **alone**. He checked the clock on the wall by the dining table. Minutes before 3PM now. He turned to Dincht. "Nothing on Kuja?" "Nope," Zell said, and sat down in one of the two couches on either side of the living room area. "I guess she's okay." Squall stormed out the door, and a huge, silver white scaly leg filled his vision. He looked and watched as Marianne slid down on a green feathered wing. She picked herself up from the ground, the expression on her face not happy. Squall glared at Kuja, who waved. "I told you I'd keep my word!" Neighbors were noticing the dragon, right away. "Just get out of here," Marianne said snappishly. "Walk by tomorrow, by eleven A.M. as promised." "My, look who's moody," Kuja snickered as they took off, the dragon having to work a little to get itself airborne. "See you tomorrow," he called to her in a sing-song voice.

Zell came running out the door. "You okay?" Squall asked in concern. "...I'm fine," she said, her voice low. From how she was acting, Leonhart suspected that something happened. Before he could ask, Marianne told him of Kuja's plans, and that she's reached him and steered away from the path of destruction. "And you're planning to help him?" Squall asked. "I don't have a choice, but we're taking a bus to Washington D.C. next time, for that's where Bush is." _If Kuja did something to upset you, why won't you say anything? Do I have to ask?_

"Kuja also did something, didn't he?" "Yeah, but I'll get over it. He won't do it again either." She paused, tension building up around her arms and shoulders. "He'd _better_ not do it again." "What'd he do then?" he insisted. She looked to him, throwing her hands helplessly in the air. "He forced me to sing." "He what?" Zell quirked, confused. "He wanted me to sing, I wasn't in the mood, and then he..." She turned from Zell to Squall. "Kuja has this ability to make people do things, by thinking it towards a person. It was an awkward time to be asking after all what was needed to be explained have been said. Then I heard his voice in my head, and I couldn't control my own voice until I the whole song I sang was done."

What she just explained...it made him mad. Kuja had violated her. He was only supposed to just _TALK,_ with her, and that was it. "That son of a..." Zell said, also angry. "But I'm okay," she assured them both. "It's not too big of a deal." "How can you say that?" Squall demanded. "Why are you defending him for that? You didn't want to sing, but he _took_ control over you to do it. He possessed you for a short time." "I _know_, but I think it's best to just let it go," she said. "Let it go!" Zell repeated. "C'mon, let's go inside," Marianne said grumpily. "It's getting cold, and people are staring." She walked past them, into the house, leaving the two SeeDs to follow.

"It's better this way, because I gained trust with Kuja. You know what he'd do otherwise?" "I don't think the jackass deserves a chance," Zell spat, watching Marianne sit down and huffing out a sigh. Squall seemed to understand, but knew something like Kuja did to her would never be forgotten. "You're not going to be left alone with him again," Leonhart declared, seriously meaning that. "I know, because Kuja kinda freaks me out. He's okay, but not exactly someone I'd even _want_ to be friends with, but I have to keep up the act." Squall nodded, and sat next to her. "You'll be okay though, right?" "Yeah," she said. "So, the dishes are washed then?" "Yup," Zell said. "I did that for ya." They high fived. "Thanks," she said. "Anything else exciting happen?"

"Not exactly exciting," Squall informed, "but we saw Seifer on the news. He's supposedly to blame for the death of another man..."

****

Yay, done! Man…you know how long this scene was on Microsoft Word? 13 pages and a quarter! Anyhoo, poor me. Damn Kuja… XD But that's just only the beginning. The Washington D.C. stuff…WOOO BOY, REALLY EXCITING. Annnnd, the next scene introduces two new characters I picked to RP as! I won't say who, though. You'll have to find out when I put it up!


	6. Ch5: Paine, Boone, and Cole

****

Before heading onto the D.C. scene…I want to put down the arrival of two of my original characters, and Paine from FFX-2. Crystal role plays as Paine. First, starting off with Cole's first journal entry.

Chapter 5: Paine, Boone, and Cole

October 22nd, 2005. 12:30 AM

Subject: Entry 1: A New World

Mood: contemplative

Damn, who would've thunk some strange swirly portal was in the fields in between Balamb G and Balamb Town? Boone and I have been assigned to go investigate. Okay, in my opinion, teaming up with Elite Nathaniel Boone is a _BAD_ idea. I get a lot of bad vibes from that guy. I don't think my friend and fellow squad member Charlie Etchinson does either.

Anyway, so this world looks ordinary, but I haven't seen any monsters. Not one. Not even a pesky Bite Bug. In fact, the insects are much smaller. I looked up some insects on the net, and found the ones zooming around the big parking lot Boone and I happened to find ourselves in were called "flies."

The two of us seemed to have found a large city. A city called New York. Boone's planning to get one of these journals, but right now he's gone out. He thinks we're on a Hyne damn vacation spot! I swear, sometimes **I** have to be the one in charge.

The buildings here in New York are so large. According to Boone, he's used to that kind of thing, since he grew up in Esthar. I've never been to Esthar.

I wonder how long I have to be out here. Here's hoping that it's only a few days... I'd like to tell my main squad about this place! It's awesome. To be honest, I've never seen anything like this before in my entire life. I wonder what the entire G-Army's going to do about this.

I could possibly earn a living, maybe, since there's no monsters to worry about. I guess there's no Lunar Cry every other decade or in this world. I don't see anyone carrying weapons, well none that I can visibly see.

I'm keeping a record of everything in this journal. I think it'll be good to print out the entries to give to the G-Army. Maybe Boone figured the same thing.

-Field Trooper, Cole Jackson

****

Next is Nathaniel Boone's first scene…in the streets of NYC.

October 22nd, 2005. 1:13 AM

He walked and explored the night of New York City. He noticed a bunch of yellow cabs around. He read the worded sign on top of their roofs. Ah, cabs. That's what they were...

He saw people coming out of a building, chatting amongst themselves. Looked like some kind of movie theatre. _Huh, so this world's not very different from ours_, thought Boone as he continued to walk silently.

A passing female face caught his eye. She started to walk up to the edge of a sidewalk, and started to get out a pack of cigarettes. Her lighter wasn't working. This woman was a real looker. Boone casually walked up, and pulled out his lighter. "Huh, thanks," the lady mumbled and lit her cigarette, tossing Boone's lighter back to him.

"Quite an outfit you got on," she commented. "It's not an outfit, ma'mm," Boone started to reply, half smiling. "It's a uniform." "Yeah? Well, I've never seen anything like it," she said.

It all started as normal talk. Boone knew better than to tell her the truth about himself, so he lied to her about everything, even his name. He waved out a taxi, and she said goodbye. If Boone wasn't on a mission, he would've gotten wasted and gotten laid...

He yawned, feeling it was time to retire. Wondered if the goody-two-shoes Cole Jackson was still in that hotel room where he'd left him, and not having the stupid kid wandering to look all over for his sorry ass...

****

One of Paine's entries before she heads out to have a drink or two the next night. Crystal also does well with this character, I think. I haven't played FFX, but I think she makes this character sound cool!

October 23rd, 2005. 9:57 PM

Subject: Another day in Wonderland.

I've managed to get myself a hotel room (a little flirting goes a _long_ way, I've noticed), and so that's where I am right now. Haven't been out of the room much, actually; just been lying here, cursing at the ceiling and whomever comes-a-knockin' at my door. Oh, and also that loud couple next door. I taught them a lesson, almost got kicked out too if I didn't, what would you call it here, as in every other world? Threaten to kill the manager? Ah yes, I do believe that's it. If I threaten him for the third time, I may have some problems.

The cops here aren't too nice, I've found out. Neither are the guys selling umbrellas on the side of the street.

And talk about _expensive_!

Screw this place. The couple next door have started back up again. I swear, I wanna just take my sword and--

Hey, I found a bar. I think I'll go there and get drunk so I can have a good reason for hurting the people next door: too drunk to know what she was doing.

****

Paine and Boone meet at a bar later on that night…

October 23rd, 2005. 10:17 PM

****

Paine

Paine entered the bar she had found earlier that morning, her heels announcing her entrance. Soft music was playing in the background, Rock music, she remembered from browsing the "CDs" at that one store (like she remembered the name). She took a seat at a stool placed in front of the counter where the waiter was serving others sitting at the stool.

After she ordered her drink, she took a sip, closing her eyes to the taste she missed the most. Maybe after a few drinks, she'll feel better about this whole "other world". _Maybe._

Boone

Boone entered a bar he passed the night before, wanting some excitement after another boring day and having to have that Hyne damn kid by his side all the time. At least he was to himself at night. He thanked Cole for that much. After all, he was his superior.

That's it. He wanted to get totally wasted. He wanted to hit it off with some foxy Earth girl, and man, OH MAN did New York city have its share of BABES!

He entered, smoothing down his dirt-blonde hair from the night's cold wind. Walking up to the bar, he spat at the bartender, "Give me the best damn beer you got." He slapped both palms on the surface of the long counter, and sat down in his stool.

No one even knew he was a G-Army soldier, for he was wearing "normal clothes" to fit in along with everyone else.

A bottle with the label Budweiser on it. He never heard of this brand. He chipped off the bottle, took a swig, and felt the good buzz. Mmmm, beer...

****

Paine

Some man walked in, one who didn't look like the others here. Paine only glanced at him for a couple seconds, maybe not even that long, and continued drinking her beer. She ordered another after her second one was finished, and couldn't stop herself when she got her fourth.

"Hey, little lady," a man--a big, muscular one-- walked up to her, his hand on her back. "Why don't you and me hang out together some?"  
"Go hump a tree, asshole," she said, voice sounding very harsh.  
"Maybe I didn't make myself clear enough-"  
"Maybe _I_ didn't make myself clear enough. Allow me to spell it out for you, idiot: F.U.C.K. O.F.F."  
Her instincts she loved. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him move that right arm toward her, to grab her. _I don't think so, buddy,_ she was faster. Her fist slammed into his face, knocking him backwards a few steps. She stood, dusting herself off. "You men never learn, do you?" Her red eyes glared at him as she walked up to him.

As he swung his arm again to hit her, she ducked, then swung her foot up and kicked him right in the crotch. He doubled over in pain, her sending a spinning kick right in his face, him now flat on his back.

"Idiot," she hissed at the fallen man, red eyes still glaring at him.  
"HEY!" called another big man, surrounded by a few other men.  
"Shit, I'm screwed," she said, standing her ground, ready to fight all of them if she needed to. She was drunk and ready to KICK. SOME. _ASS_.

****

Boone

He heard everything. That babe with the short silver colored hair (who stood out like a sore thumb from everyone else) sure had a mouth to her. Loved the way she dressed, too. Inside, Nathaniel Boone was impressed at the smack talk and the retaliation to the big thug.

Then, the stakes started to get higher. Feeling like a whole new man after a second swig of that damn good Budweiser (somethin' to tell his Elite buds back home), he decided to rescue the silver haired chick. He'd be admired for playing hero and kicking some poor bastard in the groin. "Hey, lay off her," he said and punched one guy in the face, and elbowed him in the gut. That big monkey stayed down.

One grabbed some kind of long brown and tan stick, and a white round ball bounced and fell from the green table among the other colored balls. He didn't know what the fuck was going on there, but he worried more about the chick and his own ass! He ducked as the stick swung over his head, the small breeze touch his rockstar style hair. The dark skinned man tried again with his weapon, only this time, Boone grabbed it, accidentally broke it in half and used both pieces to whack those goons' heads, shoulders, knees, and backs. One more goon stayed down, but there were two more still standing.

He smirked at the babe in distress. Chicks dug tough guys like him, usually. Wanting to seduce men like him afterwards. But first, he wanted to let her kick some ass. _Let's see what you got, princess. Knock these guys out real hard, and you just might earn my "Babe of the Month" award..._

****

Paine

__

Impressive, she thought, smirking back. She looked over at the last two men. "Aw, only two?" _This'll be a piece of cake._

She entered the next fight with the two with skill; why not waste it on people like this? She's been fighting fiends for all her life, so fighting these two would be nothin'. And she was right. The two weren't hard at all to take down, she just kicked and punched rapidly, beating the crap out of them like a wild cat would do to an enemy.

Kick to the back of the knees, enemy one down, practically begging for his life, and a sharp kick to the head, sending him flying into a wall, knocked out cold. _Next!_ The second seemed a bit scared, she noticed as she looked over at him with that smirk on her face. Quite a few kicks and punches to him, but he wouldn't go down. _That's okay, I have a plan._ Jumping off the side of the bar, she flew through the air, over the man, and when she was slightly behind him, she used that same spin kick from before and threw _him_ into the wall, also out cold. She landed on her feet in a low crouch, straightened and brushed a loose strand of hair out of her eyes. "I'm a bit rusty, but I think I did all right," she said, glancing at the two knocked out men, then at her "fighting partner". "The name's Paine. And yours?"

****

Boone

Cheers erupted from some of the people at the bar from Paine's performance of kicking ass REAL GOOD, but Boone didn't care. He knew: He impressed this chick named Paine, and felt like he was reeling her in.

And of that amazing display? Rusty! _You call something like THAT, RUSTY!_ That made him laugh a little. "Rusty, huh? I don't think so." With that, he began to introduce himself, throwing on his irresistible charm he'd use towards the women good looking and worthy enough. And oh yes, Paine was truly worthy.

"Name's Nathaniel Boone, but please, call me Boone. Most people do," he said cooly. Then he did the next thing he could only think of. "Beer, on me," he said. "Hey!" He pounded his fist at the bartender, who looked scared of him. "Get the lady a Budweiser, eh?" He finished his bottle, and also asked one for him. He smirked, resting his elbows on the counter, still putting on his charms. "It'll be on my tab." Then he jabbed a finger at the bartender. "Don't think of callin' the authorities, or I'd gladly kick your ass too."

Surely, he didn't mean for his part in the brawl to break a stick in half, but it happens. The little bit of clumsiness from Boone always had to break out somehow, every once in a while.

****

Paine

"Pleasure to meet you, Boone." She took a seat beside him, thankful he was paying for the beer. She was just about out of "money". The hotel may have been free, and she might have snagged a few bucks from some guy, but she was running out and quickly. This place was quite a place; so much different than anything in Spira. "You aren't from around here, are you? I may not have been here for more than a day, but you certainly stand out." _And I don't remember seeing you in Spira, so is it possible that- I don't know._ She glanced around at the rest of the people in the bar, red eyes scanning the area. _This place, it's much, much different than Spira._

Her eyes narrowed when thinking of her home. _And I had to be sent here? Well, it isn't too bad, anymore. Hate to admit it, but I kinda like this Boone guy. He's different. Like me._

****

Boone

"Huh, is that so?" Boone mused as the bartender placed got out the next two Budweisers. "I guess I could say I've only been in this city for a day." He looked at her red eyes. There was some kind of natural fire to them. Bright as a Flare magic spell. As she observed the mess they've made, it was just those eyes that caught his attention alld of a sudden. Of course, Boone didn't want to admit that just yet. _Yeah, right..._

He know he was doing good as the macho, tough, mysterious guy. He didn't want to change that. He was cruising this way. Paine wanted him. Wanted him bad.

He chipped off the lid of the bottle of beer for himself with his thumb, and drank the goodness of this refreshing beverage. He thought, _Why not have a little fun? Give her a hint of why I'm really here..._ "You wouldn't believe it, but I'm a soldier from out of town, on some business..." From there, he let it hang. He was only doing a little teaser on his background. Just to give in just a tiny bit, and see if the babe wanted to try to hang on to the hook of his luring charm. Hey, maybe, if he got _really_ lucky, he might get laid.

Just like at home, Earth certainly knew how to party. Yes indeed. Boone could certainly get used to THIS.

****

Paine

Paine raised an eyebrow, saying, "Oh really, now?" She may not have known much about the Earth people, but she knew what he was doing. She hung around three men long enough to know _exactly_ what he was doing, so she decided to play along. Drinking some of the beer he offered to pay for, she looked back at him. "Sounds like you have an interesting life if you're a soldier. I know three good soldiers, and was apart of their group myself." She winked at him. "So we've already got something in common."

Interesting, this man was. Another sip of her drink, and she was liking this guy even more. Though she didn't know if it was the beer or her, she really didn't care right now. Why not have a little fun while stuck here?

****

Boone

I wouldn't be surprised if you joined the military," Boone said in observation. "You definitely got the moves, babe."

_Should I give in another leak? Or just leave her hanging?_ So, this was now a game to him, as soon as he felt the buzz going hard and strong. Wasn't too sure if the beer was making him feel this way, but he ultimately treated this like some dirty little game. For sure, he liked Paine. _I like...as in REALLY like..._

"What's your position then, if you're a soldier like me?" he asked, curious.

****

Paine

__

Military... So that's what they call it here, huh? "The ass-kicker," she replied, taking another drink. Shaking her head, she chuckled, not allowing the beer to take over. "Actually, I was the recorder for my team," was all she said, taking another drink, then turning around in her seat, back leaned up against the bar, legs crossed.

"I was only sixteen and the only woman around all those men... Hell yeah, I could watch my own back and I did a damn good job at it, but I guess it never hurt to have my three guys be there for me. They're the best friends anybody could ever ask for..." She trailed off, eyes focused on nothing, staring out into space. Her face showed no emotion, but her stomach twisted inside; not even a day of being away and all ready she missed them.

Her hand tightened around the now empty bottle in her hand, rage building up inside her. _I'm going to hurt someone for all of this--for sending me here._ A crack in the glass, making Paine focus again and place the bottle on the bar, resting her elbows on top. "Fighting those assholes felt good; maybe I should start bar fights more often," a smirk crept on her face just thinking about kicking those guys' asses.

****

Boone

Boone laughed with her. The beer buzzing in his brain made him lighten up more. He almost didn't notice the crack in the empty beer bottle Paine was holding. "Just be more careful next time," he said. "I may not be able to back you up. Mission duties, see?" _Ah hell, she revealed_ that much, _so I can let loose a little more._

"I have it big, from where I'm from. I had the chance to prove myself a promotion to an Elite Intelligence rank, so I took it. See, part of my old job used to assemble weapons together, but that's not my job anymore. I'm used for bigger things. Cracking computer codes and all that shit." He laughed again, and finished the last of the beer before continuing. "Now I have to team up with the field trooper kid. I tell him where to go. He does what I tell him, and that's all I could ever ask for. We're investigating this world, starting here, and then move out." He opened his wallet and checked the cash he had. "I only have enough for those four beers. Well, time to pay, go back to the hotel, check on the kid, and hit the sack."

He found the money lying around in a small, abandoned handbag when Cole Jackson and Boone first arrived to New York. They split it after observing what the green paper was used for. It was money used in this world.

After paying for what was needed, he stood on two wobbling legs. He was really drunk now, but he felt that he'd make it back to the hotel okay, after escorting Ms. Paine home. "Alright, I'll walk ya home," he offered, and took a step, falling forward, hitting his stomach on the hard tile floor, but he was okay. He laughed, and said, "...Whoops."

****

Paine

She laughed. "Are you sure I shouldn't walk _you_ home?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. "Besides, the hotel I'm staying at isn't too far away from here."

_He said he was investigating this world, so he isn't from here, eh? And he's not from Spira, that much I know..._ "We can walk together to the hotel I'm staying at, if you are certain you can walk." _And then perhaps I could ask him a few more questions..._

****

Meanwhile, Cole's at his hotel room, wondering of Boone will ever get back to the hotel room they both were renting.

October 23rd, 2005. 1:45 AM

Cole sat idly on the couch in his hotel room, wondering if Boone would ever be back on time. _You should just go to bed. Why bother?_ he scowled to himself as he channel surfed. A drama film on "HBO" was what he settled upon and watched, but didn't pay full attention to what was going on when he checked the clock. About five minutes ago.

Boone had told him he was going out, that he wanted some booze. The irresponsible prick. Jackson would've picked Ahab Strater, his usual superior if he had the right to pick his own Elite Soldier to go on this mission with. This wasn't vacation. If it was, then Cole wouldn't have to bring his damn uniform, which was now in the wash in the New York hotel's basement with all the other dirty laundry. All but his helmet, which rested on top of the dresser drawer behind him.

Finally giving up and exhausted, Cole turned off the TV, reached behind him to turn off the lamp, and fell asleep on the couch... Let Boone find his own damn way home. The young man was a field soldier, not a babysitter.

_Boone often thinks he's babysitting me. **Now** who's babysitting **who**?_

****

Remaining author notes: Coming soon is…. the D.C. scene!


End file.
